Countdown to Regionals
by CastleQuill
Summary: Sam and Blaine don't want to ruin their friendship, so they decide not to date until after Regionals, giving Blaine more time to get over Kurt. During that time, Sam has to break up with Brittany, attempt to figure out his sexuality, and try not to kiss Blaine every time he sings.
1. Chapter 1

**This story will be updated every Tuesday and Saturday. (At least, it will be Tuesday and Saturday in my part of the world.) Please review to let me know what you think.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Glee. If you recognize it, it isn't mine.**

Sam liked Brittany. Really liked her. She was sweet, and funny, and definitely the hottest girl at McKinley (though that wasn't why he liked her, seriously). Best of all, she didn't make him feel stupid just because his grades weren't as good as they should be.

At least, she never used to. But when the two of them left Figgin's office, he was feeling pretty much like crap.

"I'm going to go show Lord Tubbington my grades so he'll know what he could have accomplished if he'd stayed in school," she said, hugging her SAT scores to her chest as she bounced down the hall. "Then I'm going to call Santana. She always told me that I was smart, and I her to know what she was right." Brittany kissed him on the cheek and hurried off, leaving Sam to walk to Spanish all by himself. She wasn't in his class, but that didn't usually matter. They always walked together.

He slid into his desk, glad that Mr. Schue seemed too excited about verbs or some other Spanish junk to notice that Sam was almost a whole hour late. That meant he could slump down in his chair and glare at his stupid scores without anyone questioning him. Except Blaine.

Usually, Sam loved that Blaine was terrible at Spanish, which meant he was stuck in remedial classes with Sam. This was the only hour they had together, except study hall, because the rest of Blaine's classes were stuff that Sam would never be able to understand. But today, Sam wished that they had no classes together, because there was no way Blaine would let him get away without explaining.

"Where were you?" Blaine whispered, scooting his desk closer to Sam's. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Sam turned away.

A second later, Blaine's hand landed on his shoulder. "You can tell me," Blaine said.

Sam shifted further away. "What am I supposed to say?" he hissed, making sure to keep his voice low, because he definitely didn't want anyone else to hear. "That I'm too stupid to get into college, and now I've got the test results to prove it? That there's absolutely nothing I can do with my life now? I don't want to talk about it."

"Sam, you're not-"

The bell rang. Sam was the first one out the door, so fast that he forgot to grab his backpack before he was gone. Oh, well. He didn't need it for his next class, anyway.

Later, he found his backpack stuffed into his locker with a bag of skittles sitting on top. It was obvious who had put it there, but Sam never thanked him. He just slung the bag over his shoulder and tossed the candy into the trash.

The Men of McKinley calendar couldn't have come at a better time. There was one thing Sam was good at, and that was looking good. No, not even that – it was having _his body_ look good, not him. And he could help others look better, too. He was smart enough for that, at least. And this was going to be the best calendar that McKinley had ever seen; he'd make sure of that. After all, his body was the only thing he had, and even that would be gone eventually when he got old and wrinkled and nasty. So he had to use it as much as he could now, while it still looked good.

Brittany understood. She patted his hand and said, "You're going to make everyone look hot. And you don't need college. I can use my new smarts to support us, and you can be a trophy husband."

That was what he'd been wanting people to tell him all week. At least it was the truth, and not some bull crap about how he can still do good no matter how shitty his grades were. But it didn't make him feel any better.

He started going to the gym more often. Screw class, it wasn't like it had ever helped him before. Ten more reps and he'd be a useful human being. Twenty more. Thirty.

"Will you please stop lifting," Blaine snapped at him that afternoon, after he'd stormed out of the photo shoot. "This isn't who you are, Sam. You're not just some body-obsessed muscle head."

Blaine didn't understand. Which was exactly what Sam told him. There were facts in this world, and Sam couldn't change them. He just had to do his best to keep up – to make something of himself – even if it was killing him.

Blaine told him he was special. Sam wanted to believe it.

He was called down to Miss Pillsbury's office the next day. She gave him the pamphlets that Blaine had asked her to get – who was she kidding? He couldn't get into places like those, even if they didn't care about scores. His writing wasn't good enough, and he hadn't done anything worth writing about. They tried listing ideas, but he barely listened. It was all so pointless. There was nothing anyone could do for him. He knew the truth, even if nobody else did. He stuffed the pamphlets into his bag and went to the gym.

Then, two days later, Blaine sat a laptop in front of him and pressed play. It was a video of different Glee club members. Tina, Artie, Brittany, Santana, Mercedes, Finn. All of them talking about things he had done.

Sam had tears in his eyes when it was over.

"_That_ is your essay," Blaine said.

Sam hugged his as tight as he could, and did his best not to sob into his friend's shoulder.

Neither of them wanted to move for a long time. Finally, though, Blaine was the one to pull away. He smiled slightly at Sam. "So, do you want to come to my house for dinner? I was thinking pizza, and those Doritos you like, and of course we'll try to make chocolate chip cookies and probably destroy the entire kitchen. Afterward you can start your essay, and I'll proofread it when you're done. Then we'll lounge around my bedroom without having to work off all the junk we just ate."

Sam smiled, blinking the last of the tears from his eyes. "That actually sounds pretty perfect," he admitted.

"Come on," Blaine said, grabbing the laptop. He held out his hand, which wasn't a usual bro thing to do, but it felt perfect when Sam grabbed it and followed him out of the room.

* * *

"I think Tina has a crush on you," Sam announced, suddenly appearing next to Blaine's locker.

Blaine glanced up at him, surprised. They'd been pretty much attached to each other ever since the calendar shoot last week, so by now he'd gotten used to Sam pretty much appearing out of nowhere and saying something crazy, but this was a new level. Blaine shook his head, but stopped when the motion made the room around him spin around. "There's no way," he said.

"Hey, you okay?" Sam asked.

By now, Blaine knew better than to nod, so he just said, "Yeah, it's just a cold." He reached to pull his books out of his locker, which was much harder than it should have been. Every movement felt like he was swimming in syrup. Even walking was about ten times harder than usual. It was a miracle that he'd managed his diva performance in glee club yesterday without falling over his own feet.

"Maybe you should go home and rest," Sam suggested.

"No, I'm fine." Blaine finally got the stupid book free from his locker and tucked it under his arm, because putting it in his bag was too much effort right now. First he'd have to fight with the zipper, then try to hold it open, then force the book in there along with all the other junk already weighing his bag down, then battle the zipper again to close it, when Blaine really couldn't focus on anything except wondering how comfortable the floor would be to nap on... This way just seemed easier. The book felt like lead in his hands.

"You sure?" Sam asked. When Blaine gave a halfhearted nod – yeah, that did make his head whirl – Sam shrugged. "Okay, then. But I'm getting these." He grabbed the books from Blaine's hands, then pulled Blaine's backpack off his shoulder.

Blaine frowned. "What are you doing?"

"Carrying your stuff," Sam said, like it should have been obvious. And maybe it should have been. Blaine was a little past being able to tell at this point. "You're not feeling good, so I'm helping you out. It's the gentlemanly thing to do. Besides, you helped me when I was feeling bad, so I gotta repay the favor."

"Oh." Blaine was pretty sure that Sam couldn't be more perfect. Except maybe if he was actually gay... No, Blaine wasn't supposed to think like that. He refused to have a crush on a straight boy. It just wouldn't end well. "Thank you."

"No prob." Sam shrugged and adjusted the two bags over his shoulders. "Anyway, Tina. She's majorly going after you."

"We're just friends," Blaine said. "I mean, things got a little weird when she asked me to the dance, but its not like she likes me. Besides, she knows I'm gay." Not that Blaine really had room to talk about liking someone of the wrong sexuality. Exhibit A: the fact that he had been watching Sam's lips the entire time they were talking without even realizing it until just now. Blaine made himself look away. "What gave you that idea, anyway?"

"Dude, I know." Sam gave him a look, and if Blaine had been breathless before (damn cold didn't want to let him breath right), it was nothing compared to how he felt now. "I _always_ know when someone has a crush."

Blaine's hands clenched around the hem of his shirt. Did Sam- No, there was no chance. He would've run in the opposite direction if he knew. Still, it was nice to imagine for a moment that Sam was completely fine with it. And maybe that he reciprocated. Even if it would never be true. "I don't think you're right," he said, forcing his voice to be casual. "But thanks for the heads up. So, how are you with Santana coming back?" There, that would change the subject.

Sure enough, Sam groaned. "It's not like I think Brittany will leave me for someone else like Quinn did. Or Santana. Or Mercedes." He paused. "Crap, what if she does."

"She won't," Blaine said. He started to reach over and pat Sam's arm, but pulled back at the last moment. He didn't want to spread his germs.

"But what if she does?"

"Look at me," Blaine ordered. When Sam obeyed, Blaine stared him straight in the eye. "She's not going to leave you for Santana. And if she does, then she's the one who's missing out. Because you are probably the best guy I've ever met, and anyone would be lucky to date you. I know this probably sounds cliché, but if she dumps you, then she doesn't deserve you. Because you're amazing, Sam."

That was probably the closest Blaine had ever come to admitting his crush, but it was worth it when Sam grinned. "Thanks, man," he said. Blaine smiled back, glad just to stand there and stare. Really, this moment could have lasted forever and Blaine would have been completely fine.

Of course the bell would ring and ruin it.

"Shit, I gotta get to class," Sam said. He quickly handed Blaine his books and backpack, then ran off down the hall towards his math class. Which was on the complete other side of the building, if Blaine remembered correctly.

Blaine really should walk into his classroom, especially since his teacher could probably see him loitering outside the door. But that didn't stop Blaine from watching Sam until he disappeared up the stairway. Of course Blaine would help Sam with his girlfriend issues, if that was what he needed. Blaine would do anything to help.

What were friends for?

* * *

Three weeks later, Sam got a text from Blaine. _Emrgncy! Met me in lockr room now pleez!_

He didn't bother asking permission to leave class. He just went. When Blaine didn't use correct spelling, you knew something was seriously wrong.

"What's wrong?" he demanded the moment he burst into the locker room. He relaxed a little when he saw Blaine pacing by the sink. He looked freaked-out, but he wasn't gushing blood and had the right number of limbs, so at least it couldn't be too bad. Hopefully.

"Cement!" Blaine exclaimed, running his hands over his hair, which didn't move at all. "She put cement in my hair gel! Look at this, Sam. My hair is ruined!"

Sam's eyes widened, and he walked over to tap his fist against the top of Blaine's head. It made a "thunck" kind of sound, just like when he hit a brick wall or something. A grin made its way to his face, though he tried to hide it. "Dude, that's-"

"No," Blaine snapped, spinning around to glare at Sam. "Do _not _say awesome. I know you're thinking it, but no."

Sam shrugged. "It kind of is, though."

That was apparently the worst thing to say, because Blaine kept glaring at him. Except a second later, the glare fell away and Blaine slumped against the wall, looking like he might cry or something. That wasn't a look Sam had seen on him in months, not since right after the break-up with Kurt, and he really hated seeing it now.

"Hey," Sam said, somewhat awkwardly, hurrying over to stand next to Blaine. "It'll have to come out eventually, right? Maybe if you just stick your head under the faucet?"

Nope, that still wasn't helping. Sam wasn't as good at the helping-people thing as Blaine was. He wrapped one arm around around Blaine's shoulders, not quite sure what he was doing, but this had worked for cheering up Brittany that one time she'd found out that Lord Tubbington was part of the cat Mafia. It was worth a shot, right? And it did seem to be helping, though Blaine still looked depressed. At least he wasn't actually crying. Sam hated it when girls cried, and he got the feeling it would be just as bad coming from a boy. And even worse coming from his best friend.

"Well, think about this," Sam said. "Nightbird just got, like, ten times stronger. You can go around fighting bad guys with you're headbutt of steel! Oh, and weren't you just complaining about how long it takes to style your hair every morning? Well, now you won't have to worry about it, and your hair will still look nice." He smiled a little as he said it, because really, this could be the perfect solution. Except for the fact that Blaine was so upset about it.

To his relief, Blaine chuckled at that. "I think I'd rather have my real hair back. But thanks for trying. And you're right, it'll have to come out eventually." He wound his arm around Sam's waist. "Thanks," he whispered.

"No problem." Sam squeezed his shoulder. After a few moments, Blaine leaned his head against Sam's chest. And yeah, that definitely didn't feel like real hair. Sam used his free hand to rub the top of Blaine's head. Why was Blaine complaining so much? Sam was half tempted to try that gel himself.

Several minutes passed before they both realized that they had been standing in a locker room all this time just holding each other, which wasn't something bros usually did. Not that there was a problem with that, but it just seemed... weird. Sam wasn't about to say that, though.

Luckily, he didn't have to. Blaine cleared his throat and stepped away, which was probably a good thing, though Sam couldn't help thinking that it kind of sucked. "I'm going to go confront Sue," he said, "just like we planned."

"You okay for this?" Sam asked. "You still want to go through with the plan?"

Blaine nodded. "It's too late to back out now."

Well, that did make sense. If they didn't manage to take Sue down, then all of this would've been for nothing. "You sure you want to go now?" Sam couldn't help but ask. "You could wait until you're feeling better, to make sure you're ready for this."

"It'd be better not to give her any more chances to attack me," Blaine said. "See you in glee? And you're coming over to my house for a strategy meeting once I know what her next plan of attack is?"

"Definitely." Sam grinned. "I can't wait! But want to come to my apartment instead?" Last year, Sam had lived with the Hudson-Hummel's, but considering that both their kids had moved out during the summer, Sam hadn't really felt comfortable staying there any more. So he got a cheep apartment, and worked delivering pizzas and changing tires at Burt's garage to pay the bills. It helped that his dad had gotten a much better job, so his parents sent him some cash every few weeks. "It's a lot closer than your place, plus there will be no one around to bother us. Just you and me."

"O-of course," Blaine stammered, his voice suddenly much more nervous than it had been a few seconds ago. And he was doing that thing again where he stared at Sam's lips and looked kind of hypnotized.

Sam had meant to talk to Blaine about the crush thing for a while now, but the timing never seemed right. And this certainly wasn't when he should do it, while Blaine was still freaked-out about what Sue did. Oh, well. There would be plenty of time for that later. And anyway, it wasn't like it really mattered.

* * *

Sam had actually thought that Blaine would say it. Seriously, Sam had given him every opportunity he could. Why else did Blaine think Sam kept bugging him about guilty pleasures? Did he really believe that Sam wanted to hear about his Wham! obsession? (Okay, so Sam wanted to hear about everything Blaine talked about, but that hadn't been what he'd been aiming for.) And that Phil Collins song? Like hell it was about Kurt. Blaine wasn't a very good liar.

So, if Blaine wasn't going to come out with it, Sam would just have to tell him.

"I get it. Your guilty pleasure is me."

Blaine opened his mouth to deny it, but Sam kept going before he could. "I've known all year, and you know, frankly, I am an attractive guy. And you are into dudes, and if you weren't into me, I'd probably be pretty offended."

Sam watched Blaine's face as he spoke. It went from denial, to fear, to a really sad acceptance and disbelief, all in the time it took Sam to say that he'd be offended if Blaine didn't like him. Which was completely true, by the way.

"Um, you're... not freaked out? Because I don't want to jeopardize our friendship. I mean, you've been there for me through this whole Kurt thing, and-"

"Blaine, just stop. Nothing is going to change." Sam made sure to cut him off before he could get going. Blaine was normally a pretty confident guy, but if there was one thing Sam had learned this year, it was that Blaine could beat anyone when it came to hating himself. And coming from a guy who'd spent weeks trying to force his calorie intake to stay in the single digits, that was saying something. It was best to cut Blaine off before he got on a roll, otherwise it could take hours to build him back up.

Blaine made a small noise, not quite disbelief, but close. Sam leaned farther forward on the piano. "We're like brothers. I trust you. And to tell you the truth, the attention feels kinda... kinda good. It's flattering." That wasn't exactly the right word for it, but he couldn't think of a better one. Blaine probably could have helped with that, but in that case, Sam would have had to explain exactly what he meant. And he couldn't do that, because he still wasn't sure himself.

Anyway, there would be time to think about that later. "Hug it out. Let's go." He stepped away from the piano, arms up. Blaine was still sort of staring at him like he was crazy, so Sam repeated. "Hug it out. Come on."

There it was. Blaine was finally smiling again, which made Sam immeasurably happy. Especially when Blaine stood up and listened to him, because Blaine gave the absolute best hugs ever. Which was probably why they shared so many of them. If any of the other guys hugged this well, Sam would be cuddling with them, too.

Except-

"Um, dude," Sam said slowly. "Please tell me that that is a pack of lifesavers in your pocket." He might be fine with the crush thing, but he didn't think he was ready for... well, if it was something else.

"Oh, yeah, they're breath mints," Blaine said quickly, moving away from Sam. "You want one?" he offered, probably to prove that he was telling the truth. Honestly, Sam wanted to make sure of that himself. Though if it was a lie, he might be better off not knowing.

But nope, Blaine did pull a pack out of his pocket. Sam relaxed. "Sure." Blaine put one in his hand, and Sam popped it into his mouth, feeling deeply relieved. And something else that he still couldn't name.

Everything that Sam had said to Blaine had been the truth. Sam _had_ known about the crush all year, and he _was_ pretty happy about it, and he _did_ like the attention. But as they told the club about their final song, he couldn't shake the feeling that some parts of his speech had been a lie. Not because of what he said. Because of what he didn't.

* * *

"Oh."

Blaine spoke quietly, but it was still enough to make Sam look up from the book he had to read for lit class. Though really, anything would've been. He hated Ethan Frome.

Blaine was lying on his bed, his head propped up on his hand, staring at his laptop screen. He was supposed to be proofreading Sam's essay, but he must have gotten distracted by Facebook at some point. And judging by his face, whatever he'd just seen wasn't good. Sam frowned. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Blaine said quickly.

Well, Sam might not be the smartest (even though Blaine insisted that he was), but even he knew that that was a complete lie. He tossed the book aside and jumped onto the bed, lying next to Blaine so that he could see the screen. "Seriously, what happened?"

"It really is nothing," Blaine said. "Just... A surprise is all." He moved the mouse up a little so it pointed at whatever had upset him.

Kurt Hummel is in a relationship with Adam Crawford.

Oh.

Kurt had also updated his status just a few minutes ago. It read, _It took three weeks, but Adam and I have officially found the worse romcom ever. The only question: why did we care?_

"That really sucks," Sam said quietly, thinking back to all the times that his past girlfriends had left him for someone else. Which was a kinda depressing number. At least he had Brittany now. That made it better.

Which reminded him, he had a date with Brittany in two hours, meaning he had to finish the reading assignment before then, otherwise it would never get done. But not until he knew Blaine was okay, obviously.

"No, it doesn't," Blaine said firmly, suddenly sitting up and leaning against the back of the bed. Sam scrambled after him as Blaine pulled the laptop onto his knees. "We're broken up. That means that _both_ of us are allowed to date other people, and he's in New York - of course he'll meet a nice guy." Blaine looked so confident for a moment that Sam almost let it go. Then his shoulders slumped, and leaned his head back against the headboard, eyes closed.

Sam scooted even closer. "Dude, you're obviously still upset."

Blaine tensed, leaning forward and looking like he was going to argue. Then he let out a breath and slumped against the headboard again. "I should be over him," he said, turning his head away from Sam. "And... I am. Or, I was, up until that stupid wedding."

Sam frowned. He hadn't really payed attention to what everyone else had been doing at the wedding, since Brittany had wanted to dance and the bartender had thought he was over twenty-one. But he did remember that Blaine and Kurt had sung some duet together, and danced together, and the one time Sam had gone looking for Blaine he'd been told that Blaine was up in a hotel room... Oh.

"Did you guys, like, do it?" Sam asked, turning to look at the window on the other side of the room, which suddenly looked like the most interesting thing he'd ever seen. At least that meant that he didn't have to look at his friend while he waited for an answer.

It wasn't like this should make him uncomfortable. He figured that Blaine had done it in the past – hell, Sam had done it with Brittany, and they'd been dating for a way shorter time than Blaine and Kurt had. And bros talked about sex all the time. It wasn't any different than Finn talking about Rachel last year, or Jake complaining about barely getting to kiss Marley. And Sam should be glad Blaine was doing it with someone instead of being hung-up on his crush.

Right.

Except that Kurt was with some other guy now, so that hadn't exactly worked out for Blaine, either.

"Uh, yeah," Blaine admitted. "And afterward, I... I told him that he should just accept that this meant something, and that we were going to be in each other's lives for many more years." Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Blaine cover his eyes with his hand. "Then he left. I should have known then that it meant... That it didn't mean the same thing to him as it did to me."

"So, what did it mean to you?" Sam turned to face Blaine again. Just because Sam was uncomfortable talking about this didn't meant that Blaine had to know that. What kind of friend would Sam be if he did something now to make Blaine feel even worse right now? "I'm only asking because you were so depressed about the Kurt thing, and then you liked me, and then you were happy with Kurt at the wedding, then you liked me again... I don't know what you're feeling, dude."

Again, Blaine looked like he was going to speak, but then he stopped himself and answered honestly. At least, it sure looked like he was being honest. "I don't know, either," he said quietly. "I think that at first I was using my feeling for you to get over Kurt. He didn't love me any more – or, it at least seemed like he didn't – so I would love someone else instead. But then it changed. By the time the wedding happened, I was using my feelings for Kurt to get over you." He glanced at Sam. "You promise that this isn't going to freak you out or make you uncomfortable?"

"Promise," Sam said.

Blaine nodded but still took a minute before he spoke. "I don't believe that you can be in love with more than one person at a time. So I must be in love with only one of you. I'm just not sure who that is. I thought it was Kurt. It _should_ be Kurt, after all the time we spent together, and he's the only one who might actually like me back. But..." Sam tensed, waiting to hear the rest, but Blaine didn't finish that thought.

"What if I could like you back?" Sam asked. "Just, you know, hypothetically. If I was gay."

Blaine shifted slightly, turning on his side so they were facing each other more. "I don't think there's any point wondering about that. I mean, you're not."

"But what if I was," Sam said. He wasn't all that sure where he was going with this, but for some reason he really needed to know the answer. And he was used to doing whatever his gut told him to do, so why not keep going?

"I don't... Why are you asking this?" Blaine demanded. That's when Sam realized that maybe there was one reason why he shouldn't have kept asking. Sam didn't like making Blaine upset. "Are you just trying to get me to say I like you more so it could be some ego boost? I know you said that the attention is flattering, but I didn't think you'd fish for it."

Shit, Blaine looked actually mad. Or maybe hurt. It was sometimes hard to tell with him. "That's not it," Sam said quickly. "Trust me, I know you're not really comfortable talking about it. I don't see why you shouldn't be, but I'm not going to force you to compliment me or something. Besides, I wouldn't need to. If I really wanted compliments, I could just ask and you'd tell me some." Sam would do the same for Blaine, of course. There was so much that was awesome about Blaine that it wouldn't be hard at all to come up with stuff.

"Then what's with the question?" Blaine asked, sounding calmer, thankfully. More curious than upset.

"I don't know," Sam admitted. Why should he care who Blaine had a crush on? Well, he should care in a dude way, to make sure that Blaine liked a guy who'd be nice to him and not break his heart. But it didn't feel like that was the only reason Sam cared.

Blaine scooted closer, leaving barely a few inches of space between them now, and put a hand on Sam's arm. Blaine always did that when he was trying to cheer him up, Sam realized. Blaine was hands-on with everyone – it was just who he was – but this felt like their thing. "Sam? Are you... feeling something? I'm not trying to 'convert' you or anything, but with the way you're talking..."

"I'm definitely not gay," Sam said immediately. That was a fact. After all, Blaine had said that kissing girls was gross (when he was sober, at least), and Sam liked making out with Brittany a whole lot.

"There's such a thing as being bisexual," Blaine said. Sam figured this must be what Kurt always called Blaine's mentor voice. After Sam moved into the Hudson-Hummel house, he had spent a lot of nights drinking milk with Kurt and listening to the other boy gush about Blaine. Sam hadn't really understood most of what Kurt went on about, but he did know that Blaine was, like, the god of gay issues.

"You think I'm bi?" Sam asked.

"I don't know," Blaine said. "That's something you have to figure out."

Could he be? He'd never really considered it before. Except for thinking that some of the guys were kind of hot, especially Mike and Blaine. But dudes could think that about other dudes, right? It was totally normal. Plus, it wasn't like Sam had ever wanted to kiss any of them – the thought of him and Mike together was just gross.

Maybe it wouldn't be with Blaine, though.

"Will you kiss me?" Sam blurted.

Blaine's eyes widened, and he got that nervous, self-doubting expression on his face again, the same one he'd worn yesterday when they'd talked about his crush. Which kind of made Sam regret saying anything – what kind of friend made his best bro look like that? Blaine asked, "As an experiment?"

"Yeah." No. Wait, what? Sam gulped, not quite sure where that voice had come from, but it was suddenly chanting that an experiment wasn't the only reason he wanted Blaine. "I don't know," Sam said, because that was the most truthful thing he could say at the moment. "It's like, I didn't think about it until we started hanging out. I just assumed I was straight, 'cause that's kind of the default option, and I was cool with it. But then you made me that video, and I started having these feelings. Now I'm just really confused."

Great, probably he'd freaked Blaine out. Was this how Blaine had felt when he thought that Sam would leave if he learned about the crush? If it was, then Sam really should have told him that he was cool with it a lot earlier, because this sick feeling really sucked. "Sorry, just forget it."

"Do you still want to?" Blaine asked. His voice was still nervous, and kind of breathless. He slid even closer, until Sam started to get uncomfortable with the lack of personal space. Not because he didn't like it – he kind of loved it even as he squirmed a little, if that made any sense. But this was such a new thing, being this close to Blaine and doing something besides hugging. It was terrifying. And awesome. And he still felt sick.

"Yeah," Sam whispered.

There was a pause. Sam could feel Blaine's breath against his lips. Then they kissed.

It wasn't like their were angels singing or a shining light – either literal or metaphorical – but it was nice. Really, really nice. He liked it a lot more than kissing Brittany, who always grabbed his butt and stuck her tongue down his throat. Not that he didn't like the making out, because he did, but this was better. But he didn't just like it because of the fact that it was so different than how Brittany kissed, because if Blaine had grabbed his butt like Brittany did, Sam definitely wouldn't complain. Wait, was he supposed to be thinking that?

He didn't really care what he was supposed to be thinking.

Sam didn't want to end it, and it seemed like Blaine didn't, either. But they had to, eventually. By the time they stopped, Blaine's arms were around his waist, and Sam was cupping Blaine's face.

"I think that answered that question," Sam managed, which was impressive, considering his mind was going _oh my god, oh my god, oh my god._

Blaine smiled and leaned in for another kiss.

That was when Sam's brain snapped back on, and he pulled away. "Wait, we shouldn't do this."

Blaine froze, looking hurt for a moment before the calm mask snapped on to hide it. "Why?" he asked.

"It's not because I don't want to." Sam made sure to clarify that before Blaine could start doubting himself again "But we shouldn't. We're not ready."

"What do you mean?" Blaine asked. "If we both want to, then what's the problem?"

"You were just telling me that you're not completely over Kurt," Sam reminded him. "And I'm still dating Brittany, and until two minutes ago I didn't even realize that I could be bi. This isn't the right time to start a relationship, and I don't want to do some friends with benefits thing that could just end up ruining us. If we're going to be together, I want to really be together."

If Blaine had protested, Sam was sure that his mind would turn to goo and he'd end up giving into whatever the other boy wanted. Luckily, Blaine nodded, even if he did sigh and look unhappy. "You're right. The one thing I've been worrying about all year is ruining what we already have. We have to do this right, or we're just going to end up falling apart like Kurt and I did." Blaine still couldn't say that last part without a wince. Further proof that they were doing the right thing, even if Sam didn't want to think that. "So, what do you think? Should we take some time off?"

"Yeah," Sam said. "From the kissing thing, not the friendship thing."

"Obviously," Blaine said quickly. Sam flashed him a grin.

"So, how long are we taking off?" Blaine asked. "When do we reevaluate? It should be long enough to actually give us time, but I don't want it to be too long. I'd like to kiss you again." Blaine looked embarrassed to admit that, even though Sam was thrilled to hear it. And he definitely felt the same way.

"What about Regionals?" Sam asked. "That's about three weeks from now. We can use the time to figure out what we feel, and I'll break up with Brittany. Once Regionals are over with, we can decide whether we're ready to move on."

"And if we are?" Blaine asked. "Then we'll be... boyfriends?"

"Yeah," Sam said. "I mean, that's what you want, right?"

"Yeah," Blaine echoed. "That sounds good. Your plan, I mean. I spent all year thinking that we would never be together. I think I can wait another three weeks."

Sam smiled, and couldn't resist reaching over to rub Blaine's hair (he couldn't really ruffle it because of all the gel). Which wasn't exactly a platonic thing to do, but he just had to.

Blaine slapped his hand away, trying to scowl, but it didn't really work. "Want to watch a movie or something? Or do you need to finish your book?"

Screw the book. He'd look up sparknotes later. "Actually, I have a date with Brittany tonight. I should probably go home to get ready. And figure out how I'm going to break up with her." That was one conversation he wasn't looking forward to having. It would be weird being on the other side of the I-like-someone-else speech, but he doubted he'd like it any more this way. Not that anyone had ever actually told him straight out that they liked someone else (except Mercedes). And Sam wasn't about to tell Brittany that he might have maybe fallen for Blaine – he was keeping that to himself until the three weeks were up and they had a better idea what was going on.

"Do you want any help?" Blaine offered.

Sam shook his head. "I'll think of something."

He really should have gotten up and left right then, but instead he hesitated. Blaine tilted his head, silently asking what Sam was thinking.

"Can we have one more kiss before I go?" Sam asked. "Then we'll cut ourselves off."

Blaine's lips against his was the only answer he needed.


	2. Chapter 2

Sam had thought that he could handle breaking up with Brittany. Apparently he'd been wrong.

He twirled his fork around his spaghetti absentmindedly. They were at Breadstix for what was probably the hundredth time this year – okay, maybe it wasn't that often, but it was close. Apparently Santana had convinced Brittany that it was against the law to go anywhere else for a dinner date, and no matter how many times Sam tried to tell her otherwise, she refused to believe it.

Right now, she was chattering happily about the new Cheerios routine they were working on, with her and Blaine singing lead. Normally it'd be pretty interesting, but he was too distracted to focus.

It'd be so much easier if Brittany would cheat on him or something. Then he'd have a reason to break up with her besides the falling-in-love-with-a-dude thing. (Was he in love with Blaine? He thought he was, but how was he supposed to tell?) As it was, he'd have to break it off with her for something that had nothing to do with her. And yeah, that was how relationships worked – when you realized it wouldn't work and you couldn't fix it, then you had to end it. And he definitely couldn't fix the fact that he'd rather be with Blaine than her. But something about it didn't sit well with him. He'd been raised to never mistreat a lady, and he was pretty sure that breaking her heart counted.

But it didn't seem very fair to stay with her, either. Not if he wasn't interested.

"You okay?" Brittany asked. "You're acting like a sad puppy."

He should just hurry up and say it. Now, before she gave him another adoring look that cracked his resolve. (Actually, he probably should have told her before they'd left her house, so that he didn't have to say it in the middle of dinner at a crowded restaurant. But he hadn't thought of that in time.)

"Want a puppy-style cheer up?" she offered. When he didn't immediately respond, she slipped around to his side of the booth and started nuzzling his neck like a dog.

Crap, she was so adorable. That was the whole reason he'd liked her in the first place, except that sometimes it was more like dating a little kid than a teenager, which freaked him out a little. But then she'd start acting sexy and the comparison would go away.

"I'm just tired," he said, slipping away before she could start licking his face, which he could picture her doing if she decided to take the puppy thing too far. And that would feel like cheating on Blaine, even if they weren't dating.

He froze. If doing kind of sexy stuff with Brittany felt like cheating on Blaine, then kissing Blaine had definitely been cheating on Brittany. He'd known it in the back of his mind, but he'd been doing a good job of ignoring it until now. Guilt curled in his stomach. Wasn't this the same thing that Quinn had done to him? Like, exactly? And he still remembered how badly that had hurt. It had taken two tubs of ice cream to feel better (though Stacey and Stevie had eaten a lot more of it than he had), and then a five-mile run to feel better about the crap he'd eaten.

Cheat on a girl and then dump her? His parents would be disappointed in him if he ever did that. Not to mention that he'd hate himself, and he didn't want to start a relationship already feeling bad about being in it. There was no way that that would be healthy.

"Do you think we'll stay together?" Sam asked, praying that she'd say no. If she wanted out of the relationship, then the cheating wouldn't be so bad, right? "I mean, we'll be graduating in a few months, and we'll probably be going to different schools. And I know that Santana is still in love with you, so if you go to New York, you might reconnect with her." He tried to sound like he didn't like the thought of them getting back together. Hopefully he did a good job.

She tilted her head. "Is that what you're sad about?" she asked. He nodded, figuring it seemed like the safest option. "That won't happen," she said. "Yes, I still love Santana, because she'd my favorite lady. Just like Blaine is your favorite guy." He shifted uncomfortably at the comparison. "And I miss the lady kisses, but it's okay, because Sam kisses are even hotter. There's a reason I married you, Sam. And even if the marriage turned out to be fake, it doesn't change my decision."

Things just got so much harder.

"Thank you," he said.

He didn't mean it.

He managed to nod along and make comments through the rest of dinner, but he had no idea what they were talking about. That was one good thing about Brittany – he could say things that made no sense, and she'd go with it like it was the most logical thing in the world.

Brittany payed for the check when they were done. He tried to get it – he was the guy, after all – but she insisted that the money elves had left her a donation in the middle of the night, and it was magic money that could only be spent at Breadstix. Sam knew that meant that her parents had left it for her, which he felt bad enough, but they'd been doing things like that ever since they found out that he had to pay his own rent. By now, he'd given up on protesting, especially since he hadn't picked up enough hours at work this month, so things were already going to be tight.

Sam didn't have a car, and Brittany couldn't drive, so Sam had driven them both in her parents' car, which they'd borrowed for the evening. After he dropped her off, he'd have to walk the twenty minutes to his apartment. A couple of months ago, any amount of walking would've been worth it to see Brittany. Now, though, he kind of resented how hard this was. But he would never tell her that, of course.

"I had a great time," she said as he walked her to the door.

"So did I." It was true, aside from the parts where he'd felt guilty. Brittany was a really cool girl, and he'd love to keep hanging out with her. Just as friends instead of on dates.

He should have expected it, since it was their normal at-the-door ritual, but it still took him by surprise when her lips were suddenly on his and her hands went up his shirt.

He jerked back. "Uh, no thanks," he mumbled, which was probably the stupidest thing he could have said.

She didn't look upset, though, which was good. He didn't need one more thing to feel bad about. "Why?"

"I, uh, bit my lip earlier. And it hurts when something touches it." Not exactly his wittiest comeback ever.

But it did make her nod in understanding. "That's happened to me before, but it was usually Santana doing the biting. We can do this instead." She pulled him into a hug.

Sam sighed in relief as he wrapped his arms around her. She was warm, and had the softest skin he'd ever felt. The hug was comfortable. Which was pretty much the perfect word to describe Brittany, he realized. She was also sweet, and loving, and would always be there for anyone who needed her. Sure, she was kind of oblivious, but in a cute way. Her innocence made him want to cuddle and protect her.

There were a lot of good things about Brittany. Plenty of reasons why he'd been so happy to date her.

There were also a lot of reasons why Sam wanted to date Blaine – he couldn't even list them all, or else he'd be stuck standing there for the rest of his life, going on about the way Blaine's eyes lit up every time someone complimented him or his obsession with helping others or the fact that he sometimes hummed as he walked without even realizing it, which was just so adorable. Sam still planned on being Blaine's boyfriend eventually, just like he'd said. But what if he was wrong? They might get together, then fall out of love. Blaine could be another Mercedes, or a Brittany. A passing-through guy instead of a forever.

What if Sam threw Brittany away for nothing?

* * *

Blaine didn't get the chance to talk to Sam at all on Sunday, though they did send a few texts during Sam's lunch break at work, none of which answered any of Blaine's burning questions. Mainly, how did Brittany handle the break-up? (Blaine didn't quite have the courage to text her and ask – that would be mean, anyway – though he did watch her Facebook status obsessively. It never changed, which could mean anything.) And more importantly, he had to know whether Sam was still comfortable with what had happened on Saturday. Part of his still worried that this would ruin their friendship, even though he knew neither of them would let that happen.

Which was precisely why Blaine arrived at Sam's apartment twenty minutes early on Monday morning. He always drove Sam to school, ever since he'd learned that Sam was walking almost half an hour to the nearest bus stop at six every morning. No way Blaine was going to let that continue, especially since it was only an extra fifteen minutes out of his way. And if it happened to let him see his crush more often, well, that had just been an added bonus.

He settled in for a long wait – Sam usually stumbled down five minutes late on Monday mornings, and sometimes he didn't even wake up until Blaine buzzed his apartment – so he was surprised when Sam slipped into the passenger seat only a couple minutes later.

"I didn't do it," was the first thing Sam said as he slammed the door behind him.

"Do what?" Blaine asked.

Sam didn't answer right away – he refused to do anything even remotely distracting while Blaine was making the left turn out of the apartment complex and onto one of Lima's busiest roads. He always claimed that he'd feel too guilty if Blaine got into an accident because of him, which Blaine always scoffed at, but it hadn't changed his mind. The moment they were driving down the road, though, the words exploded out of Sam's mouth like it had been a struggle to hold them in so long. "Break up with Brittany. It's just, I couldn't. It wouldn't be right."

Blaine's hands tightened around the wheel. He took a deep breath, determined not to get upset in front of Sam. Or while he was driving, for that matter, because the last thing he needed was to get into an accident and prove that Sam was right about the distractions. "What made you decide that?"

"It wouldn't be fair," Sam said. "She's an awesome girlfriend, and I don't want to hurt a lady. I'd feel bad for the rest of my life."

This was why Blaine didn't want Sam to know about the crush. Being friends with someone you loved could hurt, but it couldn't actually break your heart. Then Saturday came, and Blaine had started to hope that Sam wouldn't leave him heartbroken, after all. But if this conversation was going the way he thought it would, then Blaine had been so stupid.

"Okay," he said, proud that his voice sounded steady. He thought about asking if Sam was really bisexual, or if that had just been an experiment after all, but maybe it'd be better not to know. "Well, I'm glad you figured that out before we went any further."

"Yeah," Sam agreed. "It'd be bad if she saw us kissing or something and found out that way. We've gotta do this right."

Blaine's chest burned. He quickly turned the radio on and cranked up the volume, letting some peppy Taylor Swift number drown out the silence.

"Dude, what are you doing?" Sam turned the music down until it faded into the background. "Don't you want to talk?"

"Not really." The light turned red, and Blaine slammed his brakes hard enough that the car behind him stopped barely inches from Blaine's bumper and immediately blasted its horn.

"Okay, something is obviously bugging you," Sam said. "What's wrong? Did I... Did you change your mind?"

Oh, like Blaine was the one who'd changed. That was hilarious. "You're kind of playing with my emotions," he snapped. The light changed to green, and Blaine slammed his foot on the gas. Part of his mind realized that this wasn't good. He shouldn't be driving so fast, especially when he was upset, but he just wanted to reach McKinley as soon as possible. "You're right, I'm probably not ready for a relationship, and maybe I only started to like you because you were here and Kurt wasn't. But you can't just do this to me. First you make me feel like it's okay to have this crush, then you say that you return my feelings, and now you want to choose Brittany. I don't know what you're doing."

"That makes two of us," Sam mumbled. He pointed towards a Meijer parking lot. "Pull over there."

Blaine frowned but did so, pulling into the first space he saw. As soon as the car was in park, Sam's hands were on his shoulders.

"I still want to date you," Sam said. "I'm not choosing Brittany. But I don't want to hurt her just so I can be with you. So we've got to come up with some way to make her want to stop dating me. Then nobody will get hurt."

Blaine let out a breath (when had he started holding it?) "Wait, really?"

"Of course," Sam said. "You're the best person I know – who wouldn't want to be with you?"

"Someone straight," Blaine mumbled. "Or someone who didn't want to get bullied even worse than the glee kids already do."

"I've been slushied before," Sam said casually. "It's not that bad. And anyway, most of the football players have been better this year." His thumbs rubbed soothing circles on Blaine's shoulders. "There is absolutely no reason why I wouldn't want to be with you, even if we can't be right this minute. All I mean by the Brittany thing is that I've got to be nice about how I end it, so it doesn't end badly."

"Why didn't you just say that in the first place?" Blaine demanded, though a hint of a smile tugged at his lips.

Sam shrugged, looking sheepish. "I thought that you'd be able to tell."

Blaine let out a slight laugh. "Okay, so we've already had our first stupid misunderstanding," he said. "It's only day one. I'm not sure if I should be glad we've gotten that out of the way, or worried that it happened so soon."

"Well, it only lasted a minute, so that's gotta be a good sign," Sam said.

Blaine nodded. And now that he could actually think rationally about it, Sam was right. Brittany deserved more than being dumped out of nowhere two hours after her boyfriend had kissed another boy. Sam should at least take some time to figure out the least painful way to say it. There was a selfish part of Blaine that wanted Sam to just do it as quickly as possible, never mind Brittany's reaction, but he quickly silenced that thought. Like Sam had said, they'd both feel guilty if it happened like that.

"But you're serious about this?" Blaine asked quietly. Maybe it was pathetic, but he had to be sure. "We're really going to be a thing? You don't have any regrets?"

"Of course," Sam said quickly. "No regrets at all. None."

Blaine knew he missed a lot of stuff (Kurt had constantly made fun of him for being oblivious), but Blaine could understand what that look meant, at least. "You're lying."

"No," Sam protested.

"Sam, whatever you're worried about, you can tell me." He just hoped he'd be able to handle it.

Sam leaned back against his seat, eyes locked on the top of the windshield like he couldn't bear to keep looking at Blaine. "I was thinking on Saturday that it'd be easier if I stayed with Brittany," he said softly. "I wouldn't have to break up with her, or try to figure out why I like boys... Well, _a_ boy. But I'm not going to do something just because the other option scares me."

Blaine nodded, not really knowing what to say. He'd thought that Sam had been accepting the bi thing a little too easily, so it shouldn't surprise him that that wasn't the case. If he'd been thinking, he would've prepared a speech for this. Back at Dalton, Blaine had helped plenty of boys come to terms with all sorts of sexualities. But it was different when it was his best friend and possible future boyfriend who needed help. The right words wouldn't come.

What was there to say? He could ramble off the platitudes he'd given to Kurt and Karofsky two years ago. "Prejudice is just ignorance." "You're not alone." "Courage." But that didn't seem like what Sam needed, and anyway, they hadn't seemed to help much the first time.

But he still needed do something, so he reached over and squeezed Sam's hand. He was about ninety-nine percent sure that they'd decided against hand holding for the three weeks, but that didn't seem to matter. "It's a good thing we decided to wait," he said after a moment. "It will give _both_ of us time to figure things out. We'll help each other."

"How?" Sam turned toward him. "Isn't this the kind of thing I've got to figure out for myself? I mean, you can't exactly tell me if I like dudes or not."

"You're right," Blaine said. "But you're going to need someone to talk to while you work this out. I think we should promise to be completely honest with each other for the next three weeks – and after that, obviously. Even if it's not what the other person want to hear."

Sam smiled. "That sounds great. But can we save the talking thing for later? I'd rather just get to school now."

Blaine squeezed his hand one last time, then released it and put the car back into drive. "Want to brainstorm instead? Between the two of us, I'm sure we can come up with the best way to break it to Brittany."

Sam relaxed. "You fix everything, dude."

"So do you," Blaine said simply.

That was one more thing that they needed to figure out, and one thing that Sam would need time to accept. Considering all the problems they were already trying to face – mainly, the Brittany and Kurt issues – maybe he should have been intimidated by the thought of adding one more thing to the list. Instead, he wasn't fazed in the slightest. Maybe it was naïve and cliché, but he was sure that no matter what happened, they would be okay.

* * *

By the time they'd reached school, they'd decided that the only solution was to somehow make Brittany fall back in love with Santana. Well, Sam had decided. Blaine disagreed.

"Are you sure that you shouldn't just sit down with her and explain everything honestly?" Blaine asked, pushing open the door and holding it for Sam. They both entered the school and turned towards Blaine's locker, just like every morning. "I know it will hurt at first, but in the end, won't it be far less painful to just get it over with?"

"No way," Sam said. "The idea is to not hurt her at all. And keep your voice down; I don't want anyone to overhear."

"I know that." Blaine rolled his eyes. When he'd first come to McKinley, he'd been astonished by how fast the rumors could spread. When Blaine and Kurt had broken up, he had literally gotten twenty texts asking for details before his train had even arrived back in Lima, and the story had been on Jacob Ben Israel's blog by two o'clock the next day. He wasn't sure how it had spread so fast, since everyone who knew about it was in a completely different state and all swore that they hadn't told anyone. But since then, Blaine had been trying to fly under the radar – at least, as much as he could considering he was literally a part of eighteen different clubs. And the last thing they needed was for the New Directions to mess up what they were trying to have.

"Think about it," Blaine said, lowering his voice to make Sam happy, though it probably just made them look more suspicious. "Back when you were dating Quinn, would it have been better if she just told you that she still liked Finn so you didn't have to find out when she caught his mono?"

"Brittany isn't going to find out about the kiss," Sam said. Blaine certainly hoped that would be true, but he wasn't sure how Sam could honestly believe that, given the New Direction's track record for keeping secrets. "And if my plan works, she won't care who I'm with."

"You don't have to tell her about the kiss," Blaine tried. "Just say that you don't think your relationship is working, and that you should break up. You know what she's like. She'll be upset at first, but give her a few days and she'll bounce right back. And by Regionals, I'll bet you anything that she'll have gotten back together with Santana on her own."

Sam didn't even bother to respond, just gave Blaine a look. Blaine sighed as he started rummaging through his locker, trying to find the right book. "So, this is the only solution you'll agree to? You're serious about setting her up with Santana?"

"That I am, my boy," Sam said in his best Sean Connery voice. Then he slipped back to normal to say, "All we have to do is find an excuse for Santana and Brittany to run into each other. Then I'll tell her that I'm completely fine with it so that she won't feel bad, and we'll break up happily."

Blaine shifted his books around, grabbing one seconds before it could fall out of his locker. Last year, his locker had been impeccable. But with everything going on, he just hadn't had time to keep it clean. "There are about a hundred things wrong with that plan. For one, Santana lives in New York, it's not like they'll just run into each other on the streets. For another, Brittany is way too loyal. Last time Santana visited, Brittany never even considered leaving you."

"We'll think of something," Sam said, a touch impatiently. "Are you in or you out?"

"In," Blaine said. Hadn't that been what they'd promised? Whatever happened the next few weeks, they were going to face it together.

"Cool." Sam grinned. "So what should we do first?"

"Well, we should start by making sure that Santana still wants to date her. She probably does, but she's been in New York for a month, so anything could have happened. Not to mention that the whole reason they broke up was because they couldn't handle the distance, so why would they- Shh!" Blaine cut himself off as Tina walked over.

"Hey Blaine, Sam," she greeted before turning to Blaine. "We're still going boyfriend scouting after Glee, right?"

Blaine frowned – he'd completely forgotten about that – but he nodded. "I've got to go to the last half hour of the Advance D+D club after glee. They're threatening to kick me out if I miss any more meetings. But we can meet at the mall after?"

"Wait wait wait!" Sam gave them both a weird look. "Advance D+D? Boyfriend scouting?"

"It's a club where we all dress up is costumes and play Dungeons and Dragons," Blaine explained. Judging by the way Sam grinned and practically began bouncing up and down, they'd be getting a new member soon. "And I promised Tina a few weeks ago that I'd help her find a new boyfriend, so we're going to hang out and look for hot, single guys."

"And see if we can find any gay ones for Blaine to flirt with," Tina said firmly. "I saw Kurt's status on Saturday. It's time that you move on instead of hanging onto your past relationship. Or, you know." She jerked her head towards Sam in a way that wasn't subtle at all.

"Oh, you mean that Blaine should get over his crush on me," Sam said casually. Blaine almost choked. A week ago, that would've been been more embarrassing than the time Burt walking in on him and Kurt making out (thankfully all clothes had still been on). Now that he knew his feelings were requited, Blaine had to cough to try to hide a laugh.

"You know about that?" Tina asked.

Sam snorted. "Not all of us are as oblivious as Blaine. I might not be smart, but I know more than he does."

Blaine playfully smacked Sam's arm, then turned back to Tina. "I don't think I'm ready to jump back into the dating game," he said. "We've got Regionals, and student council, and I'm swamped will all the clubs. Starting a relationship just isn't a good idea."

He actually thought that it would work. But Tina must have gotten it into her head that he needed a man as desperately as she apparently did, because she linked arms with him and smiled. "You say that now, but if I meet anyone good, I'm shoving him your way."

"I'll come with you," Sam said out of nowhere. Both Blaine and Tina turned to him surprised. Well, Blaine was surprised. Tina looked downright shocked. Sam caught their looks and said, "What? I want to check out the D+D club, and there's nothing else for me to tonight, since I don't work Mondays. Though I'm not looking for a boyfriend." He gave Blaine a meaningful look that he hoped Tina wouldn't notice.

"Obviously," she snapped. "And I'm sorry, but Blaine and I have been planning this for weeks. You can't just invite yourself along without asking either of us."

"Actually, I'd love for Sam to come," Blaine said. Things had been good between him and Tina, but he hadn't forgotten the vaporub incident. Specifically, he hadn't forgotten that he'd woken up with his shirt unbuttoned, vaporub covering his entire chest, and no idea how either of those things had come about. Tina had accidentally told him the truth about what happened about a week ago, and friends or not, that had kind of creeped him out. They'd still hang out, of course, but bringing someone else along would make the whole thing less awkward.

"You should bring Brittany," Blaine added as inspiration struck. "I haven't talked to her in a while. You two can have a date while Tina tries to find one."

"And you'll find one, too," Tina added. Blaine decided not to acknowledge that.

Sam raised his eyebrows but slowly nodded. "Uh, sure. I think she can make it. She'll probably have to come to D+D with us."

"That's no problem," Blaine assured him.

"It's a date," Tina said, glaring at Sam. "See you in math, Blaine." She didn't say goodbye to Sam before she stomped off. Clearly she wasn't happy, though at least she was being passive-aggressive about it instead of outright nasty. That was an improvement. Still, he made a mental note that he'd have to do some damage control later. Maybe a movie at his house, as long as he made sure to stay awake.

"Dude." Sam grabbed his arm and led him over to the abandoned drinking fountain, the one that Sue had allegedly filled with blood last year as an energy drink for her Cheerios. Nobody was quite sure if that was true or not – knowing Sue, Blaine would believe it – but either way, nobody dared to drink from it anymore, making it the perfect place for private conversations. "Why did you ask Brittany to come? I figured we could hang out, you and me."

"You and me and Tina," Blaine reminded him. "And I figured this could help with your plan."

"How?"

Blaine smiled. "We're going to look at guys. It's not like I expect her to meet someone and fall in love, but it could at least put the idea in her head. And I figured you could make some excuse to leave, so I could talk to her. She might tell me some things she won't tell her boyfriend." It shouldn't be too hard. Last year, she had somehow become convinced that it was good luck to whisper in a dolphin's ear, and had spent weeks telling him and Kurt the most ridiculous secrets until they finally got her to stop.

"That's actually really smart," Sam said. "Okay, I'll ask her."

Sam turned to go, but Blaine held out a hand to stop him. "I want to ask something. Why did you want to come with us?"

Sam gave him a disbelieving look. "You're going to look at guys," he said, the barest hint of jealousy creeping into his voice. Blaine wasn't entirely sure if he had even heard it. "I have to make sure none of them try to pick you up. You could do a lot better than a dude with a girlfriend who doesn't even know what he is."

"No, I couldn't," Blaine said quickly. "I think the guy I've found is pretty perfect."

Sam grinned. "Thanks. I still want to come with you, though." His eyes flickered downward for a moment. "And you shouldn't wear the Cheerio uniform."

Blaine hunched his shoulders. "Why not?" he asked, picking at the bottom of his shirt, which was way too tight across his chest. He was convinced that Sue had given him the wrong size on purpose, as revenge for not joining the squad the moment she told him to.

"It looks way too hot," Sam said. "All the guys will be fighting over you."

Blaine knew he was blushing, and probably giving Sam a sappy grin, even though he tried to shrug it off. "What a coincidence," he said. "That's exactly what I think whenever I look at my Men of McKinley calendar."

"You bought one of those?" Sam's eyes looked ready to bug out of his head.

"Of course," Blaine said. "I had to support the team, didn't I?" He leaned closer to Sam and whispered, "I can't wait until August. September is my favorite, though."

Sam swallowed. "I couldn't even look at the January page," he admitted. "You and that champagne bottle were doing weird things to my head, even before I had any idea why. So did Ryder in those boxers, but not nearly the way that you did."

"Really?" Blaine asked. "Even in January?" That had been the month that Blaine's crush had kicked into overdrive, after his visit in New York had turned into one of the most awkward experiences of his life (though he'd spent the entire time grinning and acting like nothing was wrong). He couldn't help but imagine what would've happened if they had both confessed their feelings earlier. Maybe they would even be a couple by now.

Sam shrugged, looking vaguely uncomfortable. "I thought you were hot since last year. I was just slow on the uptake and didn't realize what it meant." He thought for a moment, then added, "It wouldn't have made a difference, though. I was all over Mercedes. You had Kurt. And anyway, I didn't really like you anymore after that fight we had." Blaine winced at the memory. The glee guys had been treating him badly, true, but that comment about not being for sale had been hitting below the belt, and he'd known it even as he said it.

"Last year doesn't matter," Blaine said quickly. "The important thing is that we found each other now."

"Exactly!" Sam said. "Want to help me look for Brittany?"

"I'd like nothing more." They didn't link hands, but Sam's fingers brushed against Blaine's as they for just a second, and that was more than enough.

Blaine could hardly believe that he and Sam were standing around McKinley, talking about their feelings like it was nothing, even flirting a little. It should have been the weirdest moment of his life. Instead, it was amazing how quickly it was starting to feel normal.


	3. Chapter 3

**Before I begin the chapter, I'd like to give a quick shout out to a guest reviewer named Jay, who left an incredibly insightful review. I wish I could have responded to it, because I appreciated the feedback more than I can say. **

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Brittany had obviously had a great time in the D+D club, even if she had no idea how to play the game. Neither she nor Sam had costumes (though Sam said that he planned on bringing one of his old Halloween costumes to the next meeting), so Blaine had draped his wizard robes over Sam's shoulders and tossed his hat at Brittany, who had immediately convinced a freshman boy to loan her a fake beard in exchange for a kiss on the cheek.

Personally, Blaine didn't think it was fair to take advantage of a guy who probably hadn't even talked to a girl all year, but both of them looked happy about the trade, so it probably wasn't an issue. For her part, Brittany loved the look so much that she declared she was never taking it off, and was still wearing the costume as Blaine drove her and Sam to the mall.

"So, what did you think?" Blaine asked.

Sam grinned. "That was completely awesome! Too bad we had to miss the first part."

"Yeah," Blaine agreed. The club refused to let any latecomers participate in the game, so the three of them had been relegated to playing random monsters for the rest of the members to battle during the live action role plays. Still, it was better than nothing. "We can't miss glee this close to Regionals, though. Speaking of which, what are you thinking of singing this week?"

Mr. Schue had announced that auditions for Regionals were next week, much to everyone's surprise, considering he typically just handed the songs to his favorites and called it good. To prepare, the theme was Unpredictability. They were supposed to come up with some hidden talent that nobody would expect, which was nearly impossible, considering that they all had each other's abilities memorized by now.

"I want to do my entire song in mime," Brittany said from the back seat, leaning forward to stick her head between Blaine and Sam's seats, bouncing so hard that the wizard hat slipping down to cover one of her eyes.. Though why that surprised him, he didn't know. And really, that was much saner than her idea to use fifty of Lord Tubbington's closest friends as her backup dancers. Marley had spent at least twenty minutes trying to talk her out of that one.

"I think we should sing together," Sam said, looking over at Blaine.

He smiled, but shook his head. "By now, I don't think that will be surprising," he said. "Maybe we should branch out a little."

Sam sighed. "I get the point of the assignment, but haven't we already done pretty much everything? We should play up the strengths we already know about, not try to find knew ones. If they were any good, we would've seen them already."

"Oh, I don't know," Blaine said, giving Sam the best mysterious smile he could as he pulled into the parking lot. He even fluttered his eyelashes a bit because, well, why not? "Some of us like to keep our secrets."

"Dude, you've already done every type of music known to man," Sam said. "What do you have left?"

"Not telling." Blaine laughed an unbuckled his seat belt. "You'll have to wait and see with everyone else."

"Fine," Sam grumbled. "But if the guys don't come up with some routine I can join, then I'm busting out the stripper moves!"

"That won't surprise anyone," Blaine said, thinking back to Sam's attempts to teach them sexy dancing last year. He climbed out of the car, making sure to undo the child lock so that Brittany could get out.

"They know I _have_ stripper moves," Sam corrected. "Nobody has actually seen them – except Finn, when he came to take me back to Lima, but even he missed most of the good stuff. And believe me, they are _very_ surprising." He waggled his eyebrows, and Blaine quickly turned away, because they were in a crowded parking lot and the direction his mind was going was definitely not appropriate.

"Ready to find a sexy dolphin?" Brittany slipped one hand into Blaine's and the other into Sam's. "I can show you the dolphin call that Santana showed me."

"No thanks," Blaine said, chuckling as they walked toward the mall, hands swinging between them (that was entirely Brittany's doing). Though he was curious about what she meant, considering she had learned it from Santana, it was probably something that would get them kicked out. And possibly arrested.

"What happened to the beard and hat?" Sam asked. Blaine glanced over at her and noticed for the first time that she'd taken them off. That was surprising. He'd expected her to keep them on until he eventually forced her to return it.

"In the backseat of Blaine's car," she said, then took of running. "Come on!" Sam and Blaine hurried after her, laughing as they tried to catch up and didn't even come close. That girl was _fast_.

Tina was already at a table sipping a smoothie when they entered the food court. She waved them over. "Hey, Blaine. I got your drink already," she said, gesturing to the frozen coffee across the table from her. "Sorry, Sam, Brittany. I didn't know what you wanted."

Yup. There was definitely a passive-aggressive revenge scheme going down.

"That's fine," Sam said, casually snatching Blaine's drink off the table and taking a sip. He made a face and shoved it into Blaine's hands. "Ew, why do you always get those nasty things."

"If you don't like it, don't steal mine," Blaine snapped, though he was more amused than angry. Sam was too busy scrubbing his tongue with the palm of his hand to respond. It was ridiculous. He turned and held out his drink to Brittany. "You want a sip?"

She shook her head and wrapped an arm around Sam's waist. "Let's go get good drinks," she suggested, pulling his towards a smoothie stand set up on the other side of the food court. Blaine slid into the booth across from Tina, determined not to watch the two of them walk away together. It was a process, he reminded himself. Sam needed time before he could break it off. Blaine refused to ruin it by getting upset.

"You okay?" Tina asked.

"Yeah," he said quickly. "Just tired." He flashed his best smile, and she relaxed into her chair, clearly believing him.

The four of them spent the next half hour talking and goofing off, pointing out every guy who looked about the right age, while Brittany pointed to anything that caught her eye, including two elderly women and one potted plant. It was great, and even Tina warmed up to Sam and Brittany's presence after the first few minutes, to everyone's relief. Of course, part of the reason Blaine was having a such a good time might have been the fact that Sam was sitting next to him, their elbows brushing against each other's every time they reached for their drinks.

"This isn't working," Tina abruptly complained. "Nobody's even looking at us."

"They probably think we're on a double date," Sam pointed out. Blaine had to admit that the thought had crossed his mind, but it hadn't occurred to him that that might make it a little hard to flirt with guys. Which was a plus, in his case, but wouldn't exactly help Tina.

"Why don't we split up?" he suggested to Tina. "Brittany has all sorts of experience flirting with guys. You two could go off together so Brittany can help you out. I'll wait here with Sam.

"You're not going to meet anyone if you stay here," Tina pointed out.

That was the point. He forced a smile, because Tina meant well, really. "I don't want to make Sam wait alone, and like you said, we'd look like two couples if we're all together."

"Come on." Brittany snagged Tina's hand and dragged her from the table so forcefully that Tina nearly fell out of her chair. Not that Brittany seemed to notice Tina's near-faceplant, from the way she kept bouncing cheerfully. "I bet that I can find you a man in two minutes. Someone time me." Tina didn't get a chance to protest further as Brittany raced across the food court, forcing her to follow.

"So, the Santana scheme," Blaine said as soon as they were alone. They hadn't had time to discuss this all day, and Blaine was really eager to figure out the details (even if he still didn't necessarily approve of the plan). Which had nothing to do with the way Brittany had been flirting with Sam all day and playing really obvious footsy with him under the table. Sam had tucked his feet back under his chair to make it harder for her to reach, but that girl had some long legs, and was clearly determined. "Is there anyone else Brittany might have feelings for besides her?"

"I don't think so," Sam said. "She's not really the type to stay hung up about something, y'know? Once she moves on, she moves on. I mean, I know she dated Artie once, but I'm pretty sure that's long over."

"That's too bad." Setting her up with someone from Lima would be so much easier than trying to get her to rekindle her romance with Santana, but apparently there was nothing they could do about that. Though Blaine did make a mental note to find out more about when she'd dated Artie. He'd seen the way Artie had acted during the Sadie Hawkings dance; he would be thrilled to get back together with Brittany. If she wanted to, of course. "You're positive she wouldn't like to date him again?"

"Completely."

"What about Ryder?" Blaine asked. "Everyone else in glee is either dating someone or doesn't like girls, but he's single."

"He keeps talking about some girl named Katie. I don't know if they're dating or not." Sam paused and took a long drink from his water, which was the only thing they could persuade him to drink, even when Tina and Brittany waved their smoothies under his nose. "Anyway, it's not just about making her date some random dude - or girl, whichever. She's gotta be in love so she'll be happy."

"Of course," Blaine agreed at once. "I'm just running through our options here. Ryder seems like a really great guy."

"He's a sophomore," Sam pointed out. "Brittany was supposed to graduate last year. Bad idea, bro."

Right, that was a good point. Sam just seemed to be full of them. Blaine slumped down in his chair but nodded.

"Great, so we're going with the Santana plan," Sam said happily. He slurped the last of his water and grabbed Blaine's empty cup. "Want me to throw these away?"

"Thanks." Blaine flashed his a grin, which Sam returned before walking away. Blaine watched him go, making a mental note to figure out how to put the Santana plan into action as soon as possible. As in, tonight.

"I found one!"

Blaine's turned to see Brittany standing by the booth, holding hands with some guy that Blaine had never seen before. There was something vaguely familiar about him, though, especially around the eyes. And he sort of hated to think it, but he couldn't help noticing that the guy was attractive, even if his hair was buzzed down in a blonde crew cut that did nothing for his features.

"What do you mean?" Blaine asked, brow furrowing as he stared at their linked hands. There was no way she'd just hook up with a random guy in the mall and make it that easy for them, was there?

No, he reminded himself. This was Brittany. She had a very underdeveloped concept of personal space and what counted as inappropriate flirting. Linked hands meant absolutely nothing to her.

"I found a guy for Tina to do her flirty thing with, and told her what to say so he'd crush on her super hard. Then he-" she gestured to the guy next to her, who shifted awkwardly and smiled at Blaine "-agreed to let me introduce him to one of my friends. So here we are!"

Blaine raised his eyebrows. "Um, I don't think I'm the kind of friend he had in mind when you offered that." He turned to the boy. "Sorry about that. She doesn't really think about gender the way most people do."

"Oh, no, I told him that you're a guy," Brittany said. "He's a dolphin, I think. Or a unicorn. It's hard to tell sometimes."

The guy was giving him a weird look, which made Blaine wince – no matter what Brittany said, he wasn't convinced that this wasn't some homophobic guy who'd been hoping for a hot girl to hit on. He braced himself for the usual slurs. Instead, the guy asked, "Blaine?"

Something about hearing his voice brought memories back. He searched his mind, trying to figure out what it was. Then it hit him. "Jeremiah?"

Jeremiah grinned. "What are the odds?" he asked, sitting across from Blaine without being asked. "I can't believe I didn't recognize you right away. You look the same as you did two years ago - in a good way, of course. There's no way to improve that handsome face, so quit while you're ahead, right?"

Blaine was slightly taken aback. He'd forgotten how flirty Jeremiah had been when they were alone. He'd realized later that the whole thing had been completely innocent, but back when he was sixteen, it had been way too easy to confuse his compliments for genuine interest. At least he knew better now. "I can't say the same for you. Your hair looks... nice."

Jeremiah snorted. "You don't have to lie," he said, running one hand over his hair, which was little more than blonde fuzz. "You loved the long hair. You told me so at least ten times whenever we saw each other."

Blaine winced. Okay, maybe his attempts at flirting hadn't exactly been subtle. He'd been sixteen, sue him.

"You two know each other?" Brittany didn't wait for an answer, just jumped up and down, clapping her hands. "I'm going to go find Sam and make sure he doesn't interrupt you so you can get your dolphin kisses on."

Blaine choked. "There definitely won't be any kisses!" he protested. Not that it mattered, because she was already walking away, either not able to hear him or not caring. After a second, he glanced over at Jeremiah. "Uh, no offense."

To his surprise, Jeremiah laughed. "I was the one who turned you down," he reminded Blaine. "Don't worry, I won't try to snag any kisses after that."

Blaine nodded, relieved that that wouldn't be an issue. Then something occurred to him. "Wait, you agreed to meet Brittany's male friend? In the mall you work in, no less. Or, used to work in, I guess." Blaine squirmed in his chair as he remembered why Jeremiah didn't work here anymore, but quickly moved past that. "Does that mean you're out now?"

"Yup," he said casually, giving a small shrug. "I didn't actually come over here to flirt with anyone, though. I was just looking for an excuse to get away from the group for a while. My brother decided to come shopping with us, and he's a real di- eh, I mean he's a jerk. Wait." Jeremiah suddenly shook his head and smirked. "I tried not to swear around you back when I was doing the mentor thing, but I guess I can now. He's a dick, and I'm sick of hanging out with him."

"Your brother isn't the one my friend Tina is flirting with, right?" Blaine asked, slightly worried. He hoped that she'd have better taste than to go for him if he was as bad as Jeremiah made him sound, but part of him was afraid that she'd reached the point where she'd go after any guy who glanced at her.

"Oh, no, she was talking to my buddy Yoshiro," Jeremiah said. "He's nineteen, really nice guy."

"Okay, good." And Brittany even managed to find an Asian guy. That was slightly impressive. Though if remembered right, she was the one who was constantly getting upset about how she and Mike couldn't just go on normal dates instead of "Asian dates", so maybe this wasn't such a good idea.

Jeremiah briskly clapped his hands together once. "Anyway, I haven't seen you in forever! What drama is going down in your life?"

"Uh, nothing much," Blaine said, because there was no way he was going to bring up the whole complicated situation with Sam, and that was the only important thing he could think of right then. Sure, Jeremiah had helped him out a lot back in sophomore year. He'd essentially been the type of mentor to Blaine that Blaine had tried to be one toward Kurt, except with a completely different ending. But that didn't mean there would be some connection between them even after two years, or that he could trust Jeremiah the way he used to. Besides, it wasn't his secret to tell.

"Oh, I know that face," Jeremiah said. "You're thinking way too hard about something. You always did that."

Blaine raised one eyebrow. "You remember my facial expressions after two years? I barely remember what your face looked like two years ago."

"It was the hair. It distracted you. I don't think you even actually looked me in the eye," Jeremiah joked. "And okay, I don't actually remember your expressions. You're just really, really obvious. So, what are you wondering?"

"I'm thinking I don't want to have any more deep conversations in the mall food court," Blaine said. That was what they used to do. Blaine would come meet him here during Jeremiah's lunch break or after his shift, and they'd spend the entire time just talking. In fact, Blaine could even remember which table they'd been sitting at when Blaine had decided that he was in "love" with Jeremiah. Wasn't that a mortifying thought.

"Aw, you're not going to talk about it?" Jeremiah pouted dramatically. "I can keep a secret, you know. Is it about a boy?"

"No."

"That basically means yes," Jeremiah told him.

Blaine started to stand. It was kind of cool to run into Jeremiah after so long, but quite frankly, this was getting uncomfortable. "I should go find Brittany and Sam. Make sure they know we're not going to be dating any time soon." Especially make sure Sam knew that.

"Ooh, Sam." Jeremiah looked triumphant, for some reason. "So he's the reason you don't want to date me."

"What? No!" Blaine spluttered. The last thing he wanted was to reveal his secret to some random guy, never mind that they'd used to know each other. "He has a girlfriend."

"Never stopped anyone before." Jeremiah leaned back and casually crossed his arms behind his head. "I'm just teasing, you know. But you obviously like him. You got a dopey smile on your face the moment you said his name. Which you really should work on if you want to keep it a secret."

"I'll keep that in mind," Blaine mumbled. Personally, he thought it was just that Jeremiah was too perceptive for his own good. It used to seem romantic, that he seemed to understand all sorts of things about Blaine without him having to say it. Now, not so much.

Jeremiah's face softened slightly, and he leaned forward. "Still, unrequited love is tough," he said. "Unless he's bi or in the closet? Even if he is, watching him with someone else must hurt."

"Yeah," Blaine admitted. He didn't even know where that came from, but just being with Jeremiah made him feel like a sixteen-year-old again, small and unsure and way more insecure than he would ever show to anyone.

"Want to know something?" Jeremiah asked out of nowhere, giving him a conspiratorial smile. "I already have a boyfriend. I really love him, too. I'm done trying to hide my sexuality, because I'm completely comfortable with who I am now. And I want you to know that you helped with that a lot."

"Me?" Blaine asked. "What did I do? Besides get you fired, I mean."

Jeremiah snorted. "You were so out and proud that it never even occurred to you that serenading a guy in the middle of homophobic Ohio was a bad idea. Which was pretty naïve of you, no offense, but I admired that, even if what you did pissed me off at the time. Again, no offense. But once I calmed down a bit, I realized that it really is great that you can be so optimistic about everything. I wanted to be like that, so I took a chance and asked out the guy I'd been in love with for years. And it worked."

It had never even occurred to Blaine that there was anything good to be said about the Gap Attack. It was a relief, actually, like maybe it hadn't been such a train wreck.

Okay, it had still been an unmitigated disaster. But he did feel slightly better about it, though.

"So, if you've got this great boyfriend, why did you come over here to flirt with me?" he asked, keeping his voice light and teasing.

"Like I said, I hate my brother, and I needed an excuse to slip away from him so I can buy something without him breathing down my neck. If he found out, he would definitely mess it up." Jeremiah glanced over his shoulder, as if making sure that his brother wasn't watching them. "I planned on sneaking off to the store soon as I was out of his sight, but when I realized it was you, I wanted to sit down and chat for a bit."

"What are you buying?" Blaine asked.

A smile spread across his face. Blaine could instantly see that there was a world of difference between this expression and the flirty smile Jeremiah sometimes aimed at him. "An engagement ring," he said softly. About twenty emotions flashed through his eyes, everything from love to excitement to complete terror. "If Lloyd – that's my brother – finds out about it, he'll definitely tell my boyfriend before I get the chance to ask. And worse, he'd tell mom and dad, and they'll be all over me about 'You're only twenty, you can't make this commitment' and blah blah blah."

Blaine grinned. "Congratulations! That's incredible. I'm sure he'll say yes. Any guy would be to not want to marry you."

"Yeah, you'd know about that, wouldn't you, Mr. Heart Eyes?" Jeremiah said, then quickly held up his hands. "I'm kidding! Don't be mad!"

Blaine laughed. "I'm not," he assured him. After all, Jeremiah had moved on and was getting married. It was about time he stopped being embarrassed about a hopelessly stupid crush he'd gotten over years ago.

"Good." Jeremiah pulled a pen and a receipt out of his pocket and wrote something quickly, then pushed it across the table. "Now that we both know that neither of us are interested in each other, here. It's my cell phone number, since you probably don't have it anymore. Give me a call if you ever need someone to talk to."

Blaine picked up the number, feeling strangely touched, though he wasn't sure why. "You don't have to do that."

"I want to," Jeremiah said. "You're a cool guy, Blaine, and I'd like to talk to you again. Besides, I treated you pretty badly over the serenade thing, but it was at least partly my fault for leading you on when I knew you were interested."

"Oh, no," Blaine protested. "I'm pretty sure that one was completely on me."

Jeremiah just shrugged. "Whatever you say," he said. "Anyway, I know high school is tough - you are still in high school, right?" Blaine nodded, and Jeremiah continued, "Anyway, there's probably a ton of drama going down, and it might help to talk about it with someone who's not in the thick of it." Abruptly, his serious expression morphed into a grin. "Of course, this goes both ways. If we're going to be friends, then you're going to be stuck listening to me babble like an idiot when I finally get my guy to say yes."

"Sounds like a fair trade." Blaine carefully tucked the paper into his bag, making sure to zip it into one of the pockets so it wouldn't fall out. Then he stood. "It was nice to see you again, Jeremiah."

"You too, Blaine." Jeremiah stood as well and held out his hand. Blaine smiled as he shook it. "Keep in touch, okay? Especially if my friend ends up dating your friend."

"I will," he promised, giving one last wave before he walked over to where Brittany and Sam stood a few tables away from the booth. Close enough that they could see what had happened, but probably couldn't hear anything.

Brittany looked delighted. Sam, not so much.

"I thought you weren't going to look for a boyfriend," Sam said. It sounded like he was aiming for casual, but he didn't quite manage it.

"I didn't," Blaine assured him quickly. "Jeremiah is an old friend."

"But you got his number!" Brittany said. "You two will make such cute dolphin babies together."

"There will be no baby making of any kind," he told her, though he was looking at Sam. "Seriously, when we recognized each other, we just wanted to chat for a bit. He told me a little about his plans to propose to his boyfriend and promised to let me know how it went."

Sam's forehead scrunched up as he tried to process that. "He flirted with you, but talked about his boyfriend?"

"No, there was no flirting at all," Blaine said. "In fact, he could tell that I had a crush on... someone." He'd almost forgotten that Brittany was listening, and that he shouldn't reveal to her that he liked Sam. She might get suspicious.

"You've got a crush?" Brittany exclaimed. "Who? Is he a cute dolphin? Does he have nice flippers? Is it Artie, because he kisses really well, even if he's not a dolphin and won't want to kiss a boy."

"No, it's definitely not Artie. And it's going to stay my secret, okay?" He mentally sent up a prayer that she wouldn't try to spread that around school (never mind that he wasn't really the religious type). But he wasn't really paying attention. He was too distracted by the fact that Sam was finally starting to cheer up.

"So, Tina might be a while, right?" Sam asked. "You think we should just get going? I mean, we drove separately, so it's not like she'll need a ride."

Blaine nodded. "I'll text her quick and let her know that we're going." It only took a minute, and then he led the way out to his car.

By unspoken agreement, Blaine dropped Brittany off at her house first, even though Sam's was closer. Thankfully, she had yet to fully learn her way around Lima (one of the many reasons that her parents wouldn't let her drive), so she had no idea that Blaine was going out of his way to get a few extra minutes with Sam. None of them spoke the whole car ride, though Brittany did occasionally start singing random songs she was thinking of doing for glee club. By the time they reached her house, Blaine was starting to worry about what was going on in Sam's mind.

The moment Brittany shut the car door behind her, Blaine turned to Sam. "Are you okay?" he asked, the same time Sam blurted, "Can I go over to your house?"

Blaine blinked in surprise, but decided to answer first. "Of course. Why do you want to?"

"We should Skype Santana and figure out our plan," Sam said. "I want to sort out the Brittany thing right now, as fast as I possibly can. Get it out of the way so it's not between us anymore. "

That was exactly what Blaine wanted, though he tried not to let the happiness show on his face. He had to be the voice of reason here. "What about being fair to Brittany and taking time to make sure we do it right?"

Sam shifted guiltily. "I was thinking about being fair to her, but not really about being fair to you," he said. "I was all caught up in making sure she didn't get hurt. But then I saw you flirting with that guy – I don't even know what his name is, but I really don't care – and I got, well, super jealous." Sam looked down. "And that isn't cool, because like I said earlier, you could do a lot better. Plus, it's my fault we're not actually dating yet."

"I already told you, I don't want to do better. You're perfect." Blaine placed one hand on his knee. "And it's not just you. I agreed that I shouldn't date until I'm positive I'm over Kurt and not just looking for a rebound."

"Okay, so you want to wait a little," Sam said dismissively. "But it's mostly because of me and Brittany. The point is, even if you and that guy were just being friendly and you have every right to date someone if you want, it still really sucked for me to see you two together. Which got me thinking that it must really suck for you to see me and Brittany together, right?" Blaine didn't respond immediately, so Sam prompted, "Right?"

"Yeah," Blaine admitted. "But you have a good reason for being with her. I just need to get over it."

"No," Sam said. "Good reason or not, I don't want it to hurt you, either. Meaning Brittany and I just need to hurry up and break it off, so that you don't have to see us together. I still don't want to do it in a way that would hurt her, but let's not waste time, okay? We should talk to Santana ASAP."

Blaine felt like he was going to cry, which was a pretty common occurrence lately, but it was nice to have it be because of something nice for once. "I really lo- uh, like you a whole lot," he said.

Sam lifted his head slightly, giving Blaine a smile that seemed almost shy. That definitely wasn't an expression Blaine saw on his much. Sam was confident even when he was uncomfortable enough to make him want to squirm out of his skin. "I really like you a whole lot, too." He leaned forward and looked past Blaine, out the window. "Brittany is watching us."

Blaine chuckled. "We should probably move out of her driveway, shouldn't we?"

"That would be a good idea," Sam said. "Also, ordinarily I'd give you a big, romantic kiss right now, but it doesn't feel like the right time, so feel free to collect that whenever you want. And trust me, dude, you're going to want to. I've been told I've got amazing lips. Kind of hypnotizing, you know. Makes all the guys stare."

Blaine snorted as he put the car back into drive, glad that they were joking around again, effectively breaking the romantic atmosphere. An atmosphere that they still weren't ready to have, despite his heart's arguments to the contrary. "I'll keep that in mind," he said. And he would. If Sam thought Blaine wasn't going to take advantage of an offer like that, then he had another thing coming.


	4. Chapter 4

"You sure you want to do this?" Sam asked as Blaine set up his laptop on the table in front of his bed, the camera aimed so it pointed at both of them.

"It was my idea, wasn't it?" Blaine asked. "Anyway, it's a better idea than calling Santana directly. What exactly did you plan on telling her?"

Sam shrugged. To be honest, he hadn't really thought that far ahead yet. Blaine had a point. It's not like he could just say to Santana's face that he didn't want to date Brittany anymore, especially not after their fight over her a little more than a month ago. Knowing him, he'd do something to make her mad, and she'd find a way to cut his throat through the web cam, never mind that they were in different states.

"So, what do we say?" Sam asked, nervously watching as Blaine set up the Skype.

"Just tell the truth," Blaine said. "He can keep a secret."

Blaine pressed a few more buttons, and the call began. "Blaine?" a voice said, the image shaking as the person on the other side tried to adjust the camera.

Blaine smiled softly. "Hey, Kurt."

Kurt finally got his camera fixed and sat back, smiling back at Blaine, though he was obviously uncomfortable. "Hey, Blaine. And, oh, Sam. I wasn't expecting that."

"Hey, Kurt," Sam greeted, giving a little wave. He reminded himself that Kurt was cool, and had pretty much become another brother to him after he'd moved in with the Hummel-Hudsons last yeah. It wouldn't be fair to blame him for the fact that Blaine had been completely depressed for most of the year, especially since Blaine had kind of caused the breakup.

It wasn't hard to be nice, though. Sam figured it was pretty much impossible to be mad at Kurt. He didn't have the same puppy quality that Blaine had, which made everyone love him, but the dude was hilarious and actually really nice, no matter how he came off at times. You'd have to be crazy not to like him.

"What are you doing here?" Kurt asked. "When Blaine texted me asking to Skype tonight, I figured it must have something to do with..." His voice trailed off, but Sam could sense that he was talking about his new relationship.

Apparently Blaine got that, too. "Oh, no, it's something different. Actually, we were wondering if-"

"Kurt?" a voice called. "Did you figure it out, or do you need any help?"

Kurt and Blaine both stiffened. After a few seconds, Kurt called back, "I've got it, thanks."

"Was that Adam?" Blaine asked.

Kurt nodded, looking caught somewhere between embarrassed and uncomfortable. "I broke my laptop a couple days ago and needed to get a new one, but it has so many new features I'm not entirely sure how to work it. Adam was helping me figure it out, since he has the same model."

"That's cool of him," Sam said, to try to break the awkwardness. He kept one eye on Blaine, wondering if the other boy was going to say anything, or sit there like a statue all night.

"Yeah," Kurt agreed, a hint of a blush on his face. From the way he spoke, Sam could tell that he seriously liked this Adam guy, even if he kept glancing at Blaine and biting his lip.

Blaine finally snapped out of his frozen state and smiled a little too wide. "He must be a really trusting if he's fine with you talking to your ex alone while you two were spending time together."

"He is," Kurt said. "He reminds me of you sometimes, always seeing the bright side. He's not as oblivious as you, though. Crap, I didn't mean it to sound like that! Sorry."

"It's fine," Blaine said. "I think we've already established that I don't know anything that's going on around me. You've told me often enough."

Kurt smiled, clearly relieved. "Do you... Would you like to meet him?"

Sam was torn between wanting to see who this Adam guy was, to make sure he was good enough for his almost-brother. (If there was one thing that Finn and Sam agreed on, it was that they had to protect their "little bro", even if Kurt wasn't actually related to either of them and the oldest to boot.) But he wasn't sure if Blaine would want that, and more than that, he wasn't sure if Blaine should see him. Maybe it would help him get over the break up, closure or whatever. Or maybe he'd relapse again, like after the wedding.

To his surprise, Blaine nodded. "Yeah, I'd like that," he said, sounding a little hesitant, but he didn't take it back.

Kurt blinked, looking like he hadn't expected that any more than Sam had, but he nodded. "Hey, Adam!" he called, looking above the camera. "Want to come over here and meet Blaine and our friend Sam?"

"Is Sam the one who lived with your family last year? The one whom Santana keeps singing that song about?"

Sam groaned and covered his face with his hand. "I told her she's not allowed to sing Trouty Mouth anymore! Why does she keep doing that? Now some random British dude I've never met knows about my froggy lips."

Blaine snorted and nudged him with his elbow. "You're mouth is fine," he said. "Now uncover your face and say hello."

Sam lifted his head and saw that another guy had joined Kurt on his sofa and was staring at them in amusement. "A pleasure to meet you," he said. "I'm Adam, as you probably know. And Kurt's already told me your names, though I would like to know which of you is Blaine and which is Sam."

"I'm Blaine," Blaine said. "It's nice to meet you, too."

"So, you and Kurt just got together?" Sam asked. He wasn't sure what exactly possessed him to ask that, especially when he already knew the answer. Except that a part of him wanted to watch how Blaine reacted.

"Yes, we met just over a month ago and went for coffee, but we didn't make it official until Kurt asked me on Saturday." Adam smiled at the memory, clearly unaware that this might be an awkward topic to talk about with Kurt's ex. Either that, or he wanted to make sure that Blaine knew that Kurt was his, though Adam didn't seem like he was rubbing it in or anything like that. It was more like he was genuinely making conversation.

Blaine, for his part, kept smiling the whole time. It never slipped, even when Adam mentioned that Kurt had been the one to ask, not the other way around. To most people, it would probably seem like he was fine with the whole thing. But there was something sad about him. Sam wasn't sure what it was, maybe the slump of his shoulders or the look in his eye, but he got the feeling Blaine was still upset.

Sam scooted a little closer, until their legs pressed against each other. He wasn't sure that they should grab hands or something in front of Adam and Kurt – especially Kurt, since he'd been known as one of McKinley's greatest gossips – but he did want to offer what comfort he could, even if the fact that Blaine still wasn't over this was kind of stabbing him in the chest.

Blaine flashed him a genuine smile for a second before it slipped back into his fake one.

"So, what about you two?" Adam asked, sounding genuinely curious. "Are you two a couple?"

Kurt snorted. "No, trust me, I tried flirting my heart out with Sam back in my junior year, and it didn't work. And you're still dating Brittany, right?"

"Brittany?" Adam asked. "As in, Santana's ex?"

Kurt nodded. "Exactly."

"So you aren't together," Adam said. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to imply anything. Hopefully I didn't offend you. Though really, if you were the type to be offended by something like that, you probably wouldn't be hanging around with the three of us, would you?"

"Nah, it's cool. Actually, that's what we wanted to ask you about, Kurt," Sam said. He and Blaine shared a look. The plan had basically been to tell Kurt everything, but they hadn't exactly decided what "everything" meant. And they definitely didn't decide what to do if Kurt had company.

Judging by the way Blaine looked at him, he hadn't thought of this, either. And he was just as lost about what to do about it.

"I know that look!" Kurt said, tucking his legs underneath him. A movement that brought him closer to leaning against Adam's side, Sam noticed. "You two are trying to decide something without wanting to talk about it in front of us, and judging by how long the silence lasted, it's going to be good. Come on, spill."

Sam just shrugged at Blaine. "Whatever you want to say, I guess."

"Shouldn't you be the one to decide that?" Blaine asked. "And wasn't the idea not to tell anyone?"

"Well, yeah, but that's mostly to keep away from the New Direction drama," Sam said, but then he paused. If they told Adam and Kurt, would it get back to everyone else? He couldn't be sure that it would, but then, he wasn't sure that it wouldn't, either.

"Would you like us to leave for a moment so you can make a decision?" Adam offered.

Kurt snorted. "If they wanted to talk privately, they should have done it before they called us. And don't encourage them. I'm trying to get them to spill their innermost secrets, and you're not helping."

Adam chuckled. "My apologies. What I meant to say was, we're all friends here. At least, you're friends with Kurt, even if we have only just met. You can tell us what's wrong."

"Better," Kurt said, leaning even closer to Adam. By now, he was practically on Adam's lap, the same way that he would sometimes plop down onto Blaine's lap while all the guys were hanging out in the Hummel-Hudson living room. There was no way that Blaine wouldn't notice the resemblance.

"Just say it?" Blaine asked Sam, his voice impressively controlled. It didn't sound like Adam and Kurt's interactions were bothering him at all.

"Sounds good," Sam answered. He turned back to the computer screen. "First, are you two alone? Rachel and Santana aren't there, right?"

"Nope," Kurt said. "It's just us. Now go on, this sounds good."

"Okay." Sam cleared his throat nervously. "I, uh, I'm planning on breaking up with Brittany."

Adam looked confused, while Kurt raised his eyebrows. "That's it?" he asked. "After all that build up, I was expecting at least another pregnancy scare. But go on, how does this involve me?"

"We were wondering if Santana was still in love with her," Blaine said. "Maybe we can set them up together, make the break up easier on everyone."

"_We_ ?" Kurt looked intrigued. "How exactly did you get involved in this, Blaine?"

Blaine coughed. "I'm just helping Sam out. We're best friends. It's the least I can do."

"Right," Kurt said, then turned back to Sam. "So, how exactly does this involve Santana?"

"Well, I don't want to hurt her feelings. And it doesn't seem fair to just dump her out of nowhere, so we – I – decided that maybe if she were to fall back in love with Santana..." Sam gestured vaguely with his hands, not quite sure what would be the best way to end that sentence, but both of them seemed to get it.

"I think that sounds like a horrible plan," Adam said. "No offense, but you can't make someone fall in love just because you want them to. It's not a choice, and especially not one that you can make for them. It just happens naturally." Sam didn't miss the way he kept glancing over at Kurt throughout his mini speech.

"I think I've figured that one out," Sam muttered. He definitely hadn't chosen to like Blaine so much. That didn't mean he was upset about it, or that he'd change it if he could – he liked Blaine too much to even think about giving this up, even if he knew that two guys in love were going to have a hard time. But still, he knew what Adam meant.

Blaine elbowed him in the stomach and shot him an I-told-you-so look. Oh, yeah, just because Adam agreed with him it automatically made Blaine right. Well, turns out the joke was on him, because Sam had abs of steel. He laughed when Blaine winced and started rubbing his elbow.

"I don't think it's such a bad idea," Kurt mused. "It might be a little bit on the crazy side, but by New Direction standards it's actually quite tame. You should have seen of the plots the others got up to."

Blaine snorted. "Don't sound so innocent," he said. "I heard all about how you dressed Rachel up in skintight leather just so that Finn wouldn't be interested in her."

Kurt moaned and hid his head on Adam's shoulder. "That was supposed to be kept a secret!" he exclaimed.

"Wait, she was dressed like that and he _wasn't_ interested?" Sam demanded, at the same time that a very confused Adam said, "I thought Finn was your stepbrother?"

"Okay, enough of humiliating Kurt," Blaine said. "The point is, would Santana like to be set up with Brittany? She doesn't have a new girlfriend, does she?"

Kurt raised his head from Adam's shoulder enough to look at them with one eye. "Oh yeah, she's still completely into Brittany. Hasn't even had a one night stand since she came to New York – except for the wedding, and believe me, you do _not_ want to know the details of that one. She's completely devoted to Brittany."

"That's great!" Sam exclaimed. It looked like his plan was going to work after all. That would show Blaine and Adam.

"Do you actually have any idea how you're going to get them together?" Kurt asked.

"Uh-"

"As I thought." Kurt lifted his head and smirked at them. "Okay, I'll tell you what you're going to do, but first you have to answer one question, and it has to be truthfully. Don't even try to lie, because I'll know."

Sam had a bad feeling he knew where this was going, but it wasn't like he had a choice. Well, he and Blaine could try to come up with a way to set them up on their own, but it would be so much easier with Kurt's help. He was the one who shared an apartment with Santana, after all.

"Why do you want to break up with Brittany?" Kurt asked.

That was exactly what Sam was expecting, and he knew exactly what to say. He'd promised that he wasn't going to be ashamed of being with Blaine or try to choose someone over him, and now it was time to own up. "Because I realized that it's not fair to keep dating her when I think I'm falling in love with Blaine."

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kurt's eyes widen with shock, but he was more interested in the shy smile Blaine was wearing, like he hadn't expected this to happen at all but was thrilled that it did.

"I always thought I was right about the hair thing," Kurt said thoughtfully. "You do realize that Blaine likes you back, right?"

Sam just nodded casually and said, "Yeah, I do," while Blaine did his best not to choke.

Kurt's lips curled into a smile, though there was something off about the way he watched Blaine's face. It was the same expression Sam had seen in Blaine's eyes earlier, like he was trying too hard to be perfectly happy even though he wasn't. "Trust me, I have every one of Blaine's expressions memorized, and the way he stares at you, Sam... You two will be happy, okay?"

Sam didn't quite know if Kurt was waiting for a response, but it only seemed right to give one. "You guys will, too."

"Thanks," he said softly., He sounded a little sad for a moment, but when he spoke again, all trace of it had disappeared. "Okay, this is what you do. Tell Brittany that she should do a Fondue for Two about gay rights or something like that, and convince her that all of us need to be on it. Make sure she invites Santana. And especially make sure that she invites me, because there is no way I'm going to miss this. Between all of us, we can find a way to start talking about romance." He paused, tapping his chin as he thought. "You know, I could even some up with some rumors to pass on to Santana that will make her even more determined to take Brittany back. And if you don't try to fight her this time, I bet it could work."

"Just remember that you have to make sure Brittany wants to go back to Santana," Adam pointed out. Kurt nodded absently.

"That's a great idea," Sam said. "Thanks so much, dude."

"Don't call me that, but you're welcome." Kurt smiled. "And you know, Sam, this could be the perfect time to come out."

That thought was enough to stop him in his tracks. Not that he was moving, but if he had been, then he definitely would've come to a screeching halt. "You mean say it to more than just you three?"

"That's what coming out means," Kurt said patiently. Sam wondered absently if he was purposely copying Blaine's mentor voice. "You're planning on telling people at some point, right? Because trust me, you won't be able to keep it quiet, even if you and Blaine start dating in secret. And when it comes to things like this, it's really better to have it come out on your own terms."

He nodded, remembering what had happened with Santana. Yeah, he'd really rather get to choose when everyone finds out. "Of course I'm going to come out. Blaine and I are going to date eventually, once this whole thing is figured out, and it's not like I'm going to pretend that we're not. It's just that-" That what? He didn't know what the problem is. He kept trying to think of the reasons why he should come out, and how awesome it would be to get to hold hands with Blaine at school, and all sorts of things like that. Instead, he couldn't shake the image of the jocks all cornering him with slushies. Or the terrified look that Kurt had worn the beginning of his junior year, no matter how Sam tried to protect him from Karofsky. And then there was the bullying that Karofsky went through, which proved that nobody was safe.

He'd been bullied before. First for joining glee club, and then even worse once he'd proved that he was going to defend Kurt no matter what. This wasn't different, so why did it feel like it was?

"Hey." Blaine took his hand. "It's a process, remember? We've got plenty of time. Let's worry about Brittany and Santana for now."

"Okay," Sam agreed, grateful that Blaine was so understanding. But he shouldn't have to be. Sam should be able to handle this.

"Sounds like we've got a plan worked out, even if it's one I'm not entirely sure I approve of," Adam said, and the others nodded in agreement. "Should we sign off, then?"

"Yeah," Kurt said, then bit his lip. "Actually, can I talk to Blaine for a minute? Just the two of us?"

Sam didn't like that idea, and it looked like Adam wasn't quite happy, either. But he stood and walked off, meaning that Sam had to do the same. He didn't want to be a jerk, after all, or controlling. Blaine could talk to Kurt if he wanted, and Sam was going to trust him and not get in the way. He didn't even let himself eavesdrop, though he was going to pace the floor like a crazy person until Blaine eventually joined him.

* * *

Blaine watched Sam walk away, slowly closing the door behind himself as he went, giving Blaine and Kurt complete privacy. That was more than Blaine might have done if the positions were reversed, and Sam was the one who was going to talk to his ex. At the very least, Blaine would've been tempted to listen from the hallway, and half expected Sam to. But after a moment, he heard footsteps on the stairs. Sam really was leaving them completely alone.

"So," Kurt said, somewhat awkwardly. "You and Sam. That's nice."

"Yeah," Blaine agreed. Facing the screen now that it was just the two of them was one of the hardest things he'd ever had to do, but he made sure to look Kurt straight in the eye. Whatever they said to each other, it was going to be important, and Blaine wasn't going to run away from it anymore. "And you and Adam."

"It's really over, then," Kurt whispered.

Blaine knew exactly what he meant. Even on the day of their break up, he'd had this feeling that they were working their way back to each other. Sure, the trust had been broken, but it was nothing that couldn't be fixed. It was a process, one that made Blaine sob into his pillow every night for weeks, but it was one that would end. Eventually, he was sure that they would move past this and find each other again. Which was exactly what happened, but not in the way Blaine expected.

"Kurt," I know there's a lot unresolved between us," Blaine said. "We never actually talked about what happened. We promised to, over Christmas, but it didn't happen."

Kurt cut him off. "Forget it. It doesn't matter anymore. We're not going to be dating again."

"But we're still friends," Blaine said. "And I want you to know."

He waited, sitting on his hands because if he didn't, they would twist the hem of his shirt into a wrinkled mess. Finally, Kurt nodded once.

"You were the first person I fell in love with," Blaine began. He'd expected this to be the most difficult thing he had ever said, even harder than when he'd actually had to confess to cheating. But instead, he'd rehearsed this speech in his head so often that it slid off his tongue. "You were the first person I ever really had a connection to. Sure, I'd had friends and crushes and all that, but nobody I really cared about. Heck, I'm not even in contact with any of my Warbler friends anymore, so that shows how close we were. But I was connected to you, and I thought we'd have that forever, like it would magically be okay even if you moved to New York. But we lost it."

Kurt opened his mouth, a guilty look on his face, and Blaine knew what he was going to say before he spoke a word. He quickly continued, "No, it wasn't your fault, even if you were the one who stopped answering my phone calls. It was both of us. I could have told you that I was upset, tried to work out a way to fix it. Instead, I tried to handle in on my own. How were you supposed to know I was upset if we lived in completely different states and I never told you?"

"I still should have picked up on it," Kurt said. "At the very least, I should have been a better boyfriend. There are some things you just do when you're in love with someone, and I wasn't doing them."

"Like I said," Blaine told him, "both of us. I should have told you how upset I was and tried to rebuild it. And the thing that kills me is, we could have. We're both falling in love with other people, and we're both happy about it, but even now I know that we could have fallen back in love with each other so easily. That we might have even gotten married someday if I had made a different decision."

"So why did you do it?" Kurt asked.

This was the part Blaine was dreading the most. He'd already explained a version of it to Sam, back when he'd been tempted to rejoin the Warblers, but not in these words. He'd prepared this part of the story just for Kurt. "I was scared. I thought it was over, that it was better for us to just leave instead of desperately trying to hang on. That's what it felt like, you know. Every time you ignored my phone call or changed the subject to your new internship, it felt like I was digging my fingertips in, trying to keep us together."

"I'm sorry," Kurt said.

"Me too. And that's why I did it. Because I was so sure I would fail, that I couldn't keep us together. I couldn't keep you in love with me. And it scared me, knowing that it was going to end. I was just counting the days, wondering when the inevitable break up call would come. So, why not end it now? My way. No more waiting."

"We really messed this up," Kurt said ruefully, running one hand through his hair. Blaine just nodded. He didn't really have anything else to say. He'd told everything, and it left him feeling hallow.

"I just want to tell you one thing," Kurt said. "Don't do this to Sam. Keeping to yourself, trying to support the whole relationship without his help. It's not going to work, and I don't want to see you get hurt again. Or hurt him."

"I won't," Blaine promised. "But you have to promise that you'll pay attention to Adam. I don't know how much he talks about what he's feeling, but if he doesn't tell you something, you've got to notice."

"I know," Kurt said simply. "And I will."

They lapsed into silence, just staring at each other. It was something they'd done a lot when they were dating. (According to Finn, their record for wordlessly giving each other heart eyes was forty-two minutes and twelve seconds. He'd timed them.) But this silence felt different. Not awkward, exactly. Neither of them was really in a hurry to break it. But it wasn't as comfortable as it used to be.

"I feel like we should sing something," Kurt suddenly said, chuckling slightly. "Rachel would be horrified that we're going through such an emotional moment without expressing ourselves through music."

Blaine cracked a smile. "I think we already covered the break-up song back when we first got together. I don't know what I was thinking, choosing Candles for our first duet as a couple."

"Oh, yeah," Kurt said, adopting a far-away look as he remembered it. _"Blow the candles out. Looks like a solo tonight."_

"_I'm beginning to see the light,_ " Blaine sang back softly. _"Blow the candles out. Looks like a solo tonight."_

They finished the chorus together. _"But I think I'll be alright."_

Blaine cleared his throat. "And will you be?"

Kurt smiled and nodded firmly. "Yes. And so will you."

"I'm glad," Blaine whispered.

"Me, too."

Then spent another moment in silence before Blaine brought himself back to reality. "I should go talk to Sam. He's probably going crazy wondering what's going on between us. And you should go see Adam." Part of him didn't want to leave. The moment they logged off Skype, it would feel official. The end of their relationship, the start of a friendship that would never be anything more.

"Text me the Fondue for Two plans?" Kurt asked.

"Definitely." He leaned forward, ready to log off, but something made him hesitate. "Kurt, you're my best friend. You know that, right?"

"And you're mine, though Rachel would never forgive me if she heard me say that." This time, when Kurt smiled, his lips trembled.

"Goodnight, Kurt," Blaine said.

"Goodbye, Blaine."

They logged off.

It really was over.

Blaine spent a moment just sitting there, staring at the screen, trying to get his swirling emotions back under control. He wasn't even sure what he was feeling, just that it was complicated and making his head hurt. Part of him was tempted to hide in his room until he figured it out and got himself back under control, but the moment he thought of Sam, he was on his feet and heading down the stairs.

Sam spun around the moment he heard Blaine coming. It was very obvious that he'd been pacing around the living room this entire time. "You okay?" he asked, hurrying over to Blaine. "I was kinda expecting you to be crying when you came down."

Blaine made himself smile. And really, it wasn't as hard as he'd thought it would be. "Nah, I'm fine."

Sam nodded but leaned closer, squinting a little as he studied Blaine's face. "You're still upset about something, though."

"It's nothing," Blaine said. "We said goodbye, ended our relationship for good. It didn't really mean much, since we'd already been broken up for months. It was just a formality, really."

"Blaine," Sam said in a warning tone. "Complete honesty, remember? Plus, I've already heard you go on about your break up a hundred times, so there's no point holding back about it now." Blaine glanced away, biting his lip, and Sam gave a frustrated groan. "Come on, I thought you were done with this. You're going to hold it all inside until it drives you crazy, and next thing we know you'll be singing with the Warblers again or dating Tina or something equally crazy."

Blaine managed another smile, but this one felt much more forced. "It's just, we've never said goodbye to each other before," he admitted.

"That's good!" Sam exclaimed. "I mean, not about the goodbye thing, but you're actually talking about it! Here." Sam led Blaine back to the couch and sat them both down, Sam's arm thrown around Blaine's shoulders, holding Blaine against his chest. "We need to get our bro-cuddles on while you talk."

Blaine snorted. "Bro-cuddles?"

"Well, yeah, we're not dating yet, so they can't be real cuddles. But we are bros, so we can have bro-cuddles." Sam spoke as if it should be obvious, and Blaine laughed again, wondering if this particular bit of wisdom had come from Brittany, or if Sam had thought it up all by himself.

"So, talk," Sam said.

Blaine's humor died. He frowned, and Sam pulled him closer in response. "We're never going to date again," he said. "I thought that we would, eventually. Even when I was chasing over my crush on you, in the back of my mind I was sure that this was just temporary, that Kurt and I were forever. But we've closed the door on that. Whatever happens, we're over."

Sam didn't say anything, and Blaine squirmed closer to him, trying to hide how guilty he felt. Forget about Sam saying that Blaine didn't deserve a guy with a girlfriend. Sam was the one who didn't deserve to have all this ex-boyfriend baggage dumped on him. "I don't want to date him again," he quickly assured Sam, knowing that the other boy would be worried about that, even if he'd never admit it out loud. "We both made the decision, and I'd never get back with him anyway, not when I'm already falling in love with you."

"It's still sad," Sam said quietly.

Blaine scowled, hating that Sam could tell that. It shouldn't be sad. Blaine should have gotten over this months ago, when the split happened, like any smart person would have. Instead, he'd spent months chasing after his ex, and look at the result? Now that he was at the point where he wanted to move on, his past was still biting him in the ass. And worse, it was hurting Sam, which was the last thing Blaine wanted to happen.

Sam's fingers tightened around Blaine's arm, as if he sensed Blaine's thoughts. Or maybe Sam just read the expression on his face. "All endings are sad, even the good kind, because it means that there's no going back. And nobody really wants to leave something they loved behind, even if moving on means something better." He slowly began to rub circles on Blaine's back. It was comforting, and Blaine relaxed against him. "You need to cry about it? Stacey and Stevie seem to think I make a good tissue."

Blaine smiled, relieved by how well Sam was handling it, even if it still felt like something Sam shouldn't have had to deal with in the first place. "I'm good. Like I said, I wanted this, so it's not like I'm torn up about it. It just... takes some getting used to, I guess."

Sam's fingers ghosted up Blaine's back, making him tremble. "Take your time."

"Can we just stay like this for a while?" Blaine asked. "I think the bro-cuddles are helping a lot."

A second later, he felt Sam press his lips to the top of his head. "Whatever you need."


	5. Chapter 5

**I had a bit of a mix up when replying to reviews this week. I somehow lost track of which ones I had already replied to. I think I figured it out, but if I somehow missed replying to your review, I'm so sorry! Please know that I read all of them and appreciate them immensely.**

Sam glanced up as Blaine approached his locker, his grin morphing into a confused frown as the other boy got closer. "Dude, you look disgusting. What happened?"

Blaine laughed, wiping his forehead with a washcloth, which did almost nothing to help with the giant amount of sweat dripping down his face. "Sue somehow got all the Cheerios excused from their last three classes so that we could run the routines about a million times, since practice after was canceled today. Something about taking her baby to a check up."

Sam had thought that some of his afternoon classes had been a few people short, but he hadn't really thought about it until now. "Lucky," he said, even though he knew Blaine was probably panicking about missing class. He liked to stay on top of those things. Sam, on the other hand, would be more than happy to skip, even though it would mean a lot of complicated make up work. "She must have been working you hard," he remarked, pulling a water bottle out of his bag and passing it to Blaine, who drank half of it in one gulp before replying.

"She's always like this. Something about me needing to make up for lost time." Blaine tried to hand the rest of the water back, but Sam motioned for him to keep it. Clearly Blaine needed it the most. "Believe me, it takes a lot of hours to learn those routines. And apparently the fact that I've only been on the squad for two weeks isn't a good excuse for not knowing them."

Blaine doing a Cheerios routine. Sam tried not to imagine how hot that would be, because it sent his mind to unfortunate places. "Hey, you said practice was canceled? Does that mean you can come over to my apartment after glee? You can use my shower to get cleaned up and stuff." Which was another image that Sam didn't need.

Blaine shook his head. "Not tonight, sorry. There's a Brainiacs practice that Brittany and I were originally going to skip, but we'd better go to it now that we're free. And I have a ton of homework."

"Seems like you're always in clubs," Sam grumbled. "I don't even know how you fit so many in." Maybe that wasn't fair, because what little free time Blaine did have was almost always spent with Sam, but still. Sam didn't work tonight, and that meant that he had to get a ride home with someone, then spend the evening alone in his apartment. He'd never complain, because he was glad he could go to McKinley at all, no matter where he had to stay. But that didn't mean he enjoyed all the time alone with nothing to do except school work and his art projects. He had enough macaroni to get started on his newest portrait – he wanted to make one of Santana and Brittany together, to give to them after they got back together – but there was only so many nights he could work on those before even macoroni art got boring.

"It's called good time management," Blaine said. "I have my schedule planned out down to the second, and I've cut out everything that isn't necessary."

Sam just gave a huff of annoyance, though secretly he was pleased that Blaine considered all the times they spent lying around doing absolutely nothing as "necessary". Also, clearly Blaine didn't have his schedule as organized as he claimed, because Sam could think of at least five times this week alone where they'd done some spontaneous hanging out that Blaine obviously hadn't had a chance to prepare for. Pretty impressive, considering that it was only Wednesday.

"I could hand out with the Brainiacs," Sam suggested. "And you can do your homework at my house." Although they both knew that if Blaine agreed to that, they would end up watching Netflix on Blaine's laptop instead. It was just how things worked.

"Someones being clingy," Blaine teased. They reached the classroom, but Blaine leaned against the wall instead of entering. "Is something wrong?" he asked, dropping the playful smile and looking a little concerned.

Sam quickly shook his head. "Nah, just looking for something to do tonight. I'll probably walk down to the library and play on the computers or something. It's cool."

"You want me to come over?" Blaine offered. "I can leave my laptop in the car so we're not tempted."

"No, I'm good." He didn't want to be an obsessive boyfriend, after all. Even if they weren't actually boyfriends. "I should call home, anyway. It's been a while, and I know that if Stacey and Stevie start talking to me, we'll be on the phone for hours while they go on about their bug collection or something." He headed toward the door, glancing over his shoulder and frowning when Blaine didn't follow. "You coming?"

"I think I'll just wait here." He had that mysterious smile again, like the one he'd worn on Monday when Sam asked what he had planned for this week.

"Why are you-"

"Come on!" Brittany stuck her head out of the classroom and smiled at both of them, then grabbed Blaine's hand and yanked him down the hallway. Blaine threw Sam a quick wave over his shoulder as he was pulled away. A few seconds later, Kitty followed, rolling her eyes at the two of them.

Sam wandered into the choir room and grabbed a seat next to Artie. "You know what that was about?"

"Kitty said that they're performing some sort of routine together, but she wouldn't say what it is," Artie said.

Sam was surprised by that for a minute. Not the fact that they were all doing a routine – they were on the Cheerios together, so it kind of made sense – but the fact that Artie had spoken to Kitty. Last time Sam checked, she'd been acting like Artie (and every other member of the club that she didn't like) was nonexistent. Apparently that had changed. To be honest, Sam wasn't sure that was a good thing, considering how obvious Artie's crush on her was.

"You're best friend and girlfriend are both part of it. How did you not know?" Artie asked.

Sam shrugged. "Blaine's being all mysterious about it. So has Brittany," he added as an afterthought. Truthfully, he hadn't actually spoken to Brittany much this week, except for when they all joked around at the mall on Monday, and a couple times they saw each other in the halls on Tuesday. Even at glee yesterday, she had decided to sit with Kitty and Marley, whom she'd apparently decided she was best friends with. Marley looked pleased but a little confused by all the attention, not to mention the things that came out of Brittany's mouth. And Kitty looked annoyed about it, but that didn't say much, considering that was pretty much her permanent attitude.

Did that mean that he and Brittany were breaking up? Two days didn't seem like a whole lot to base it on, but that was a long time for them. Maybe they'd just drift apart on their own – wasn't that what most high school couples did? Just look at him and Mercedes. They hadn't actually been dating, but they'd definitely cared about each other. Yet now they hadn't talked to each other in months, not since she'd been in town for the wedding.

He didn't really like to think about people drifting apart, because it made him think about how he wasn't sure which schools he and Blaine would get into, and that there was a really good chance that they wouldn't go to college together, so what if they eventually drifted apart? He didn't think that would happen, but then, Blaine had been convinced that he and Kurt would get married, so that showed what could happen to long-distance relationships. It was better to just ignore that for now. Though if the drifting apart happened to him and Brittany, then he'd be completely in favor.

"Are you listening?" Artie asked.

Sam blinked and forced himself back to reality. "Uh, no. What did you say?"

"I said that I can't give you a ride home today." Sometime in the last few months, Artie had become Sam's go-to person for rides on days when Blaine had clubs after school, which was pretty much every day. At first, Sam had felt weird about accepting rides from someone he wasn't as close to as Blaine, but Artie had just gotten a car for his eighteenth birthday – one of those ones where you used your hands to work the gas and breaks – and he was eager to show it off.

"Yeah, I know. You're in Brainiacs with Blaine." Sam shrugged. "I spent months taking the bus back at the beginning of the year. I can survive one trip." And he'd have to, because the other person he sometimes caught rides with was Brittany, and she was also in the club.

"I can help you out, if you want," Ryder offered from behind him. Sam turned in his seat to look at him. "I mean, my mom has to drive me around because I don't have my license yet, but we can drop you off at your house."

"You don't have to do that," Sam said. It was weird enough having to take charity from his good friends – and that's what the rides were, even if they insisted that they liked spending time with him. Coming from Ryder, who he almost never talked to, it would be incredibly uncomfortable and way too close to pity.

"Come on," Ryder urged. "Glee club is a family, right? We help each other out."

Sam frowned. He wasn't exactly sure what was going on, but he got the feeling that for some reason, Ryder really wanted him to agree. "Okay. Thanks, dude."

"No problem." Ryder grinned.

Mr. Schue walked into the room then, so Sam had to turn around. "We're about to see our next unexpected talent," he announced. (Yesterday Unique sang a really quiet, calm song while Tina and Joe proved that they were both surprisingly good ballroom dancers.) "Blaine, Kitty, and Brittany are getting it set up in the gym, so we're going to join them there."

"The gym? Are we allowed in there?" Artie asked. "I mean, are you sure that Sue won't jump out of a dark corner and try to kill us?"

"She's bringing her baby to a doctors appointment," Mr. Schue said. "We should be good as long as we don't leave any signs that we were there."

"This is going to be a disaster," Sugar said. Nobody disagreed.

"Come on." Mr. Schue waved them toward the hallway, and after a moment everyone jumped up to walk out.

Sam caught Ryder's arm as he passed. "Why did you want to give me a ride home?" Because there was definitely something up with that.

Ryder shrugged. "I figured you could use some help." Sam just kept staring at him, because he knew there had to be more to it than that. After a moment, Ryder's shoulders sagged, and he admitted, "I haven't exactly made a lot of friends in glee. Or the rest of the school. Except for Jake and Marley, and sorta Unique, but now they all hate me because..."

"Because you randomly kissed Marley," Sam finished. That story had spread through the club like wildfire the moment Marley admitted it to Jake. And even if it hadn't, there was no way to ignore the fact that Jake and Ryder hadn't said a word to each other in about two weeks, when they used to be best buds. "That was a really bad idea, by the way. Not how you treat a girl, dude."

"You think I don't know that?" Ryder asked. "It was stupid, and I wish I could take it back, but it happened. And now none of them will want to be my friends again."

He looked so upset about it that Sam was starting to feel bad for him. "What about that girl, Katie?"

Ryder winced and muttered something that sounded like "Don't want to talk about it." Then he shook his head and continued in a normal voice, "If you want, you can come over to play video games or something."

Sam thought about that. Ryder seemed like a pretty cool dude. Maybe he needed to open up his mind a little, considering that problem he had a few weeks ago with Unique calling herself a girl, but he was trying. And Sam hadn't really thought about it before he tried to get a ride home, but he didn't really have many friends outside of Brittany and Blaine. Last year, he would have been able to say that he was close to all the guys, and he hung out with them in the locker room all the time, even though he wasn't on the football team. This year, though, he just didn't spend time with most of the guys outside of club, even though he worked out in the gym all the time.

"Yeah, that sounds cool," Sam said. It'd be nice to play video games with a guy who wasn't Blaine again. Not to mention that anything would be better than being stuck in his apartment. Sam held out his fist, and Ryder grinned as he bumped his against Sam's, both of them making the boom motion as they pulled back.

Sam was half expecting some crazy set up in the gym like the ones Sue usually had. Heck, after her plan to shoot Brittany out of a cannon, Sam wouldn't have been surprised by anything she did. But the gym was more or less normal, except for a fire pit in the center of the floor. It was like the one his family had on their porch back in Kentucky, but he got the feeling that this one wouldn't be used for toasting marshmallows.

"Anyone else have a bad feeling about that?" Artie muttered to Sam and Ryder, pointing toward the fire, which was big enough to reach several feel above the edge of the pit.

Sam shook his head. "Nothing will happen if Blaine's involved. He's pretty careful." At least, Sam hoped.

Blaine walked toward the club as they seated themselves on the bleachers, smiling around at them, completely confident. "Sue's been teaching us some new moves for her Sue du Soleil. We're not sure if we'll be allowed to use these at Regionals, but we wanted to show you all what we bring to the table."

Mr. Schue smiled and gestured toward the three Cheerios. "Take it away."

Music began to blast from the speakers. It was the type of preppy song that Sue always used for her routines. The three of them began to dance, the girls shaking their hips in the kind of seductive moves designed to flip up their skirts and show even more skin. And probably cause another sex riot, which was weird, because Sue hadn't exactly liked the last one. The surprising thing was, Blaine was doing the exact same moves in perfect sync with them, even though he'd had a little over a week to learn the routine, and the moves were insanely complicated.

No, screw that. The real surprising thing was that, even though Blaine was wearing more clothes than either of the girls, he still looked a hell of a lot hotter than both of them. Or maybe it was only Sam who thought that. And maybe it wasn't so much of a surprise. It wasn't like Sam was blind. He'd seen the way that Blaine looked when he danced. He'd just never seen Blaine dancing like _that_.

Or doing back flips like that! Sam's eyes nearly bugged out of his head as the three of them did a series of flips, all of them landing on their feet at the exact same moment. Where had Blaine even learned to do that?

"What do you think they're doing with the fire?" Ryder asked quietly. Sam didn't want to draw his attention away from the routine long enough to answer.

Both of the girls grabbed long wooden batons from the ground and began spinning them above their heads. At one point, they swiped the ends of the sticks through the flame and kept spinning as the batons began to burn. The lights cut out a moment later, leaving the three of them illuminated only by the flames. Blaine wasn't twirling one, but he continued to dance as Kitty and Brittany spun their batons and tossed them higher and higher above their heads. At one point, Brittany swept the baton in a wide circle around her, and Blaine flipped backwards over it like it was a jump rope or something. While still singing.

Sam had always known that his friend was talented, but heck, this was a whole new level. And it brought all of the unfortunate thoughts from earlier racing back to his head. He had to cool down, or else things were going to get awkward. He really should have tried to find a new mailman, since he wasn't using Beiste anymore. How had he gone this long without choosing one?

One final spin of their batons, and the song finished with all of them sinking into the splits. Kitty and Brittany held their batons above their heads, while Blaine was between them, arms up, the fire shining on his face just enough that Sam could make out the giant grin on his face. The entire glee club jumped up, stomping their feet and cheering like crazy as the lights came back up.

"They're really good," Ryder said, loud enough that Sam could hear him over the applause. "You're lucky, man."

"Yeah," Sam agreed, watching as Blaine climbed to his feet, clearly basking in all the applause, so happy he was almost trembling even as he struggled to catch his breath. That was another thing – Blaine had been singing for most of the song while doing all those stunts, and had only just started to sound out of breath near the end of it. How had he done that?

Ryder snorted. "You've got a drugged-out look on your face," he told Sam. "Thinking of Brittany?"

"Oh, yeah," he said guiltily. Because she was the one that he should be thinking about, and he'd definitely noticed how sexy she looked doing that routine, but she hadn't really held his attention the way she would've at the beginning of the year. Was this another form of mental-cheating, liking to stare at someone else more than he liked to stare at her? He decided not to think about that, because the question sounded creepy even in his head.

"You guys did wonderful!" Mr. Schue announced as Brittany and Kitty put out their batons. The rest of the club flooded the floor to congratulate them. "How did you even learn to do that?"

"Sue's kind of insane, as if you all didn't know what already," Blaine said, still panting hard. "She went crazy with the circus thing. I think she even tried to bring in a lion for us to tame, but Figgins managed to veto that idea." He stretched his arms above his head, the way Sam had been taught to do when he got a cramp while running, making his shirt ride up slightly. Not a lot, just enough to show a sliver of skin.

Oh yeah, Sam was definitely having a problem.

"That was the only performance planned for today, unless someone else has something planned." When nobody said anything, Mr. Schue continued, "We'll meet up on Friday for our group number. Everyone is dismissed."

"Uh, I'm going to go talk to Brittany, then we should get going," Sam said. Because kissing Blaine was still off limit. Which meant that doing other things with Blaine was even more off limits. Not to mention that the football team would probably be here any minute to start practice, so it would be a bad time for the two of them to sneak off to the locker room. Bad thought, Sam! Don't go there!

"Did you like it?" Brittany asked, throwing her arms around his neck and kissing his cheek.

"I definitely liked it. I can't wait to see you all perform it at your competition," he said, stepping out of her embrace as quickly as he could. He had promised her a couple weeks ago that he would come watch, and now he was more excited about it than ever. As epic as the Sue du Soleil looked now, it would be even better with the rest of the squad. Not that Sam would watch more than one person.

"Anyway, Ryder's giving me a ride home, so I'd better go," he said. "See you tomorrow."

"See you." She managed to plant one more kiss, on the lips this time, even though he'd tried to dodge it without being obvious what he was doing.

"We can stay longer if you want to talk more," Ryder offered. "My mom isn't expecting us to get out so soon, so we'll have to wait a little bit for her to get here."

Sam immediately shook his head. "I think we should just get going," he said. One more minute in the gym with Blaine, and Sam might do something crazy.


	6. Chapter 6

**I'm so sorry that this is a day late! Something came up that prevented me from updating yesterday, but hopefully I got this up soon enough that you won't be mad at me. :)**

**I'd like to give a quick shout out to my new beta, Tuuzmorado, who's awesome feedback gave me some great ideas for the rest of the story!**

**I don't think this needs to be pointed out, but just as a reminder: my story is canon up through Guilty Pleasure. Anything that happens in canon after that point won't affect my story in the slightest.**

**Those of you who are Darren Criss fans, keep an eye out for an A Very Potter Senior Year reference. Even though it wasn't one of his lines, I still had way too much fun making Blaine say it.**

* * *

"You did amazing," Tina gushed. "Seriously, I'd hug you so hard right now if you weren't so stinky."

"Thanks," Blaine said, trying to look enthralled with what she was saying, even though he hardly heard a word of it. Which wasn't nice, especially since she was being nice Tina instead of the grouchy Tina that kind of scared him. But his attention kept getting caught by Sam. Specifically, the fact that Sam hadn't come over to say anything. Blaine had been expecting him to at least compliment the way he performed that crazy-difficult routine after he'd gotten done talking to Brittany. But instead, he'd left with Ryder without even glancing in Blaine's direction.

Okay, he really had to get over this. Jealousy wasn't attractive. He'd joked earlier about Sam being clingy, but now look at him, getting worked up because Sam didn't say anything to him when it really wasn't a big deal. Blaine repeated that to himself as he smiled at Tina's compliments.

"You're not listening," Tina said, raising her eyebrows at him. Thankfully, she looked more like she was mildly annoyed instead of seriously pissed off.

"Of course I am!" he said, grinning at her and turning his mind firmly away from Sam. Ryder probably had to get going quickly. Yeah, that was it.

God, he was getting jealous. He really needed to quit this.

"Mmmhmm." Tina cocked one eyebrow. "What was I talking about?"

"Uh, the routine? How good we did?" That was what she'd been saying last time he'd heard something, so it seemed like a safe guess. But he could tell from her expression that it was the wrong one. He winced. "I'm sorry. What were you saying? I'll pay attention this time."

She smiled and shook her head. "I was going to tell you about Yoshiro, but someone doesn't seem like he's in the mood to hear it," she said, and he breathed a sigh of relief at the teasing tone to her voice. "I'll tell you at Brainiacs."

"Thanks. I'll be there as soon as I get washed up," Blaine promised. She nodded, and he headed over to where he'd left his bag by the wall, next to Brittany and Kitty's stuff. He'd stuck his phone in the front pocket, and he could hear it vibrating as he got closer. He pulled it out to check. And may have had a happy little spaz attack when he realized that it was from Sam.

_Sry to go. Had to get out of there. Had a... problem. Any mor time and I wouldnta cared that im stil dating brit. really wanna kiss u_

Blaine really, really hoped that he wasn't blushing. Or, that everyone would at least think that his red face was from all the exercise, which seemed like a likely option. He tried to fight the giant grin that wanted to blossom on his face. Okay, so he'd known all along that Sam liked him, and that the fact that he left didn't really mean anything. But it was nice to get it confirmed. Or rather, it was nice to learn that Sam's leaving _did_ mean something that Blaine had never expected.

"We just spent three hours practicing," Kitty groused. "We're all tired, and quite frankly your sweat makes you look like you just fell into a kiddy pool, and I'm pretty sure that disgusting gel is starting to melt off your head, unless you've actually found a way to superglue your hair permanently. What the heck are you so happy about?"

Maybe he hadn't been as good at hiding his smile as he'd thought. "Nothing much," he said, quickly dropping his cell phone into his bag and slinging it over his shoulder. "Just glad the routine went so well."

"Uh huh." For a minute, Blaine was worried by the way she stared at him. Blaine knew that he was pathetically bad at lying when he was put on the spot. But after a moment she grabbed her own bag and headed toward the girls' locker room, so she must not have suspected anything.

He headed down to where Artie, Brittany, and Tina were still gathered together talking about Brainiac things. "Where is practice?" he asked as he approached them. "Are we still using Mr. Fille's room, or did we-"

"Well, look who it it. The Homo Crew. What are you doing in our gym, fairies?"

Blaine tensed. Not because of the insults – it wasn't like he'd never heard those before. But he'd been doing a really good job of never crossing paths with any of the sports teams this year, which had reduced the amount of bullying he received significantly. He'd completely forgotten that the soccer team was practicing today, or else he would've hurried out of the gym right after the routine was done. The last thing he needed was for them to decide that they missed using the gay kid for slushy target practice.

"We're using this gym," another guy spat. Blaine didn't recognize him; he looked pretty young, probably a freshman or sophomore. He was still a lot taller than Blaine, though, and already had enough muscle to be intimidating.

"We're going," Blaine said, part of him burning with shame even as he spoke. Wasn't he the one who always preached that prejudice was ignorance and that you needed to confront these people? By that logic, he should stand up to these people, make them take back what they'd said. Not that it would actually work. And standing up to people hadn't always worked that well in the past.

Besides, this wasn't the same thing. This was a one time thing, some idiots throwing insults because Blaine and some other glee club members just happened to be there and no teachers were around. It probably wouldn't happen again, at least if Blaine made sure to avoid them. So it was fine to just walk away, since it wasn't a big deal, right?

"You better be," a guy said. After a minute, Blaine recognized him as Lipoff from the football team. Out of all the bullies, he had the best aim with a slushy. He could nail someone from almost ten feet away. Blaine wasn't even sure how he managed to throw the slush that far, but he avoided Lipoff for obvious reasons. "Don't even think about hanging around. You just want to see us get all hot and sweaty 'cause your old boyfriend doesn't want you anymore, don't you?"

Yeah, that was real creative.

It did kind of hurt, though.

"You can't just let them talk to you like that!" Tina said, turning toward him, face contorted with fury. "I thought you told me that the bullying stopped?"

"It mostly has," he said, giving a small shrug that didn't seem to reassure her. If anything, she looked even angrier. "It's really not a big deal."

"We're not going to let them get away with this," she snapped, sending a death glare in the direction of the guy's locker room.

"She's right," Artie said. "Glee clubs gotta stick together. You pick a fight with one of us, you got a fight with all of us."

"They weren't picking a fight," Blaine said quickly. "Seriously, just let it go. There's four of us and-" he did a quick count- "six of them, and the rest of the team is probably on the way. It's not worth making a big deal of." Ever since the catastrophe with Kurt and Karofsky two years ago, he had been careful about what kind of advice he gave and about confronting people. The last thing he wanted was for someone to get hurt confronting a bully again, and especially not because of him.

The three of them hesitated, clearly torn between wanting to say something and understanding that Blaine's argument made sense. As much as he loved that they were tempted to stick up for him – and he really appreciated that they'd go that far – he was just as glad that they were being smart and letting it go.

"Let's just get to the Brainicas meeting," he said, heading toward the gym exit.

Tina caught his arm. "Don't you want to wash?"

He grimaced. He really, really wanted to get cleaned up, but there was no way he'd go in the boys' locker room now. "I'll just sit away from you so you don't have to endure the smell," he said, grinning in an attempt to make a joke of the whole thing.

Brittany shook her head. "Come use our locker room," she said, linking arms with him and pulling him toward the girls' room. "They won't bother you in there, and you don't like girl parts, so I can strip in front of you without it being cheating."

He hesitated. On one hand, he could imagine that the soccer team would have a lot of bad things to say if they caught him coming out of the girls' room – he got called a girl often enough without giving them more fuel. But on the other hand, he really wanted to get cleaned up. Not to mention that he'd already been in every other girls' bathroom in the school at some point or another, cleaning up after a slushy attack. Might as well go for a perfect record.

"Thanks," he said, following her into the locker room.

Kitty was standing by the bench, shirtless. She scowled when they came in. "What are you doing?"

"The soccer team took the boys' room," Blaine mumbled, quickly averting his eyes. Hopefully that would be enough of an explanation. He wasn't sure if she'd understand or not; she was pretty popular, despite the fact that she was in glee. He was almost positive that she'd never even been slushied, though she obviously knew that other people were.

"You can put your stuff over here if you want," she offered. He was shocked enough that he turned to stare at her incredulously, even though he'd planned on keeping his gaze away from the girls as long as they were changing. Partly to keep things from turning awkward, and partly because he really didn't want to see that. Thankfully, by now her tank top was on.

"Uh, thanks," he said, dropping his backpack onto the end of the bench, about five feet from her's, trying not to look too surprised by her offer. It wasn't like he hadn't expected her to be nice. Except, well, he hadn't. From what he'd seen from her in glee club and Cheerios practice, she never did anything nice for anyone, ever. Occasionally she did something that wasn't too horrible, and even sometimes looked like she cared about Marley and the rest of her friends, even if she immediately did something horrible to cover it up. But still, he hadn't been expecting this at all.

She glanced at him and rolled her eyes. "Just change somewhere else. I don't care what you see, but you look like the type of blushing weakling who'd probably vomit at the sight of anything remotely female, and I really don't need to have to clean your sick of my clothes."

"Uh, yeah," Blaine said. That sounded more like the Kitty he knew. He grabbed his spare clothes and headed for the stalls. It'd be nice to shower, but there was absolutely no way that was going to happen in the girls' room. Still, it'd be a big help to just wipe off his face and change clothes.

"I'll come with you," Brittany said brightly. "I haven't spoken to my dolphin in forever."

"We just hung out on Monday," Blaine pointed out. "And during every Cheerio practice."

She shook her head, looking at him like she couldn't believe he didn't understand. Considering that her world view only rarely matched up to reality, she must feel that way a lot. "That was me and you and Sam and Tina, not me and you. And spending time together isn't talking. We don't say anything important at practice."

Blaine smiled, having to admit that she made sense. Brittany's way of looking at things may be odd, but he'd noticed that she was right about things more often than not. And it felt nice that she wanted to speak to him alone. After Tina and Sam, she was his closest friend (except Kurt, of course, but that situation was still a little complicated). It was nice to hear that she wanted to spend time with him. Not to mention that he'd planned on asking her about Santana when they'd all gotten together on Monday, but the opportunity hadn't come up. He could do it now, set their matchmaking plan in motion, if he could just think of a way to bring it up.

"What do you want to talk about?" Brittany asked, leaning against the wall by the sink. She didn't look like she needed to wash up; he skin was completely sweat-free, like she'd spent the afternoon lazing around instead of running through vigorous routines. Blaine didn't have any idea how she did it, but Sue always insisted that the rest of the Cheerios copy her example. The National Championship squad was supposed to be too good to sweat.

He grabbed a handful of paper towels and ran them under the cold water, then pressed them against his forehead. It was unbelievable how good that felt. "I don't know. You're the one who wanted to talk to me."

She shook her head. "I don't like starting conversations. Then you have to think about what to say. You go."

"Have you heard from Santana lately?"

Okay, that wasn't exactly subtle. He just had to hope that Brittany didn't notice.

To his relief, she brightened immediately at the topic. "We talked last night. She likes New York. Why do you want to know?"

He shrugged, hoping the movement seemed casual. "Kurt mentioned that she's living with him and Rachel, but I haven't really talked to her since she graduated. It's be nice to stay in touch, since she's such good friends with both you and Kurt." There, that sounded halfway plausible. He stepped into a stall to get changed, sensing that he'd be much better at lying when she wasn't watching his face.

"You have to come on Fondue for Two this Friday!" Brittany said. "I'm talking about unicorn subjects. Kurt already said he'd be there, and his Hardy Boy boyfriend – that's what Santana calls him – and Santana will be there, of course. It's going to be a party."

Having five guests would defeat the purpose of calling it Fondue for _Two_, but Brittany either wasn't aware of that or she didn't care, so he decided not to bring it up. "I'd love to," he said. Then, because he couldn't keep his mouth shut, he asked, "How do you feel about Santana?"

"She's my best friend," she said, sounding puzzled. "Why?"

"Uh... Kurt," he said. "We're trying to keep being friends, but it's kind of rough after all we went through. I'm wondering how you two do it. Are you ever tempted to get back together with her?"

"No," she said firmly, making his heart sink. This would be much harder than anticipated. Then she added, "It's like Artie."

"Artie?" What could he possibly have to do with this?

"Artie," she said, like that explained everything. She seemed to sense that he didn't get it, because she said, "I was dating him when Santana said that she loved me, but I didn't date her because I was with Artie. But then Artie called me stupid and I dated Santana instead."

"So you'd date Santana if Sam broke up with you?" he asked, forcing himself to sound calm, to not break into a giant grin. If he did, she'd probably hear it in his voice, even if she couldn't see his face.

"Yeah. But Sam and I aren't going to break up." She sounded confident, but Blaine could hear a bit of hesitation in her voice.

"Isn't it weird to have a back up plan for if you're relationship fails?" he asked, keeping his voice light. The last thing he wanted was to insult her or acting like what she was doing was a bad thing, especially since this was what he'd been hoping for. "Most of the time when someone loves another person, they can't imagine being with anyone else. It never even crossed my mind when I was with Kurt."

"But I love them both," she said simply. He wondered if she really saw it that simply. That she loved them, and could be happy with either of them. It didn't seem possible that she could be so calm about it – If Blaine had been caught between loving two guys, he would be driving himself insane. Heck, it was bad enough being in love with Sam while not being over Kurt completely. Being totally in love with both of them would drive him nuts.

Then again, when had anything with Brittany ever been normal?

"Love never goes away," she said softly. "I'm going to be in love with Santana for the rest of my life, and maybe I want to know what would happen if we were together. But that doesn't keep me from loving Sam just as much. You still love Kurt, right?"

"Not in the same way." He finished changing clothes but leaned against the side of the stall, not wanting to come out until he knew where this conversation was going, and whether his face was going to give anything away.

"But you do," she said. "So you know what I mean."

His throat tightened a bit as he thought about it. That was actually a really good way to sum up his emotions. But his and Kurt's situation felt different. Yes, of course he wondered what would happen if he and Kurt got back together, married, adopted kids, grew old. That didn't mean he wanted to experience it, though, the way Brittany seemed to want to be with Santana.

"Are you really sure you want to be with Sam?" he asked, more because he was genuinely curious than because he was trying to convince her to get back with Santana.

"I love Sam," she said.

He intended to wait in the stall longer, to hide his own emotions, but he was too curious to see what her face looked like. He stepped out, his uniform folded under his arm, and moved towards her. She looked upset, which was an expression he didn't like to see on anyone. On Brittany, who was pretty much the epitome of innocence, it was heartbreaking. "That's not really an answer," he pointed out gently. "You said that you love Santana, too."

"I don't think Sam loves me."

That was the last thing Blaine was expecting to hear. "What?"

"He hasn't kissed me in over a week, which is weird because people always say that I have the softest lips ever, and I've been chewing gum so I know I taste good. And he doesn't really hug me, or do anything. And he didn't do any impressions on our date Saturday, so I know somethings wrong." She frowned, and Blaine felt guilt burn in his throat. This was why he'd thought that Sam should just break up with her, rip the bandage off, so to speak. Now he had to figure out what to say.

Half of him was tempted to tell her that she should talk to Sam about this – which, well, probably would've been the best advice he could have given, considering that communication was the most important part of a relationship. But he didn't want her to put Sam on the spot like that, and anyway, this was partly Blaine's fault. He could at least come up with something to make her feel better.

"Everything ends," he said, wincing slightly at how cliché that sounded, but he couldn't think of anything better. "Sometimes it's better if you don't try to fix it and just move on. Maybe it's a good thing. It could give you a chance to figure out how you feel about Santana."

Brittany's frown deepened. "I already know how I feel about her."

"Then you can figure out if you want to date her instead," Blaine said. "Think about it during Fondue for Two. I know Sam. He'll be fine if you're not sure, or if you need some time to figure it out."

"I don't want to hurt him, or make him break up with me."

Damn. If Blaine had felt guilty before, it was nothing compared to hearing her say that she didn't want to hurt Sam. This was supposed to be about them not hurting her, not the other way around. "You won't hurt him," he promised, wishing that he could promise her that the second part wouldn't happen, even though he knew that they had to break up. It just killed him to see her looking so upset, though. "He's the most amazing, understanding guy in the world. You know that. He'll give you whatever you need to make you happy. If that means going back to Santana, he'll accept it and wish you the best."

She nodded, looking marginally reassured. "Sam's the one you have a crush on, isn't he?"

Blaine froze.

"Hey, are you going to stand back there doing your girly emotional chats all day?" Kitty called. Blaine quickly turned toward her, grateful for any excuse not to answer Brittany. Kitty stood facing them, arms crossed. When she saw him looking, she rolled her eyes and turned to walk off, her skirt swishing around her calves. To be honest, it was kind of weird to see her in an actually modest outfit. It was definitely not what Blaine had been expecting. "Whatever. I've gotten everything I needed. Continue your estrogen fest over there. I'll leave before the barf in my mouth starts to come out."

Yeah, that was the Kitty he'd been expecting to deal with. Still, at least she'd broken up their talk before things got awkward. "We'd better get to Brainiacs," he said, not looking at Brittany as he went to grab his bag from it's spot in the center of the bench. (Hadn't it been closer to the edge? Kitty must have bumped it or something.) "Just give me a minute to send a text, and we can go."

"Who are you texting?" she asked, following him over.

He dug around the front pocket of his bag, frowning when he couldn't find it there. He almost always stuck his phone there for safe keeping. "My dad," he lied. "I want to tell him when the Brainiacs practice is supposed to get out."

"Make sure to tell him that the brains are in our heads. We don't actually grow them in tubes like the villains do in movies," she said. "That's what I thought the club was when Artie told me about it."

Well, it certainly sounded like she was back to her usual self. He nodded, masking his face so it looked completely serious. "I'll let him know." He finally found his phone in the second-largest pocket, where he must have stuck it by mistake. He sent the text quickly, then stuck it in his pocket. He had to admit, having actually pockets to stick things in was what he missed most from the time when he hadn't had to wear the stupid uniform every day. That, and bow ties. But the latter went without saying. "Ready to go?"

She nodded happily and started telling him about all the movies she'd seen involving brains in tubes – there was a surprisingly large number of them, and they had some of the most disturbing names Blaine had ever heard. But he was more than happy to listen, all of their serious conversation seemingly behind them.

* * *

"Yes!" Sam threw down his controller and fist pumped the air as he beat Ryder at Super Smash Brothers Brawl for the third time in a row.

Ryder just stared at him. "How did you get so good? I haven't lost to anyone in years."

"Lots of time playing with Finn and the other guys. It was, like, his favorite game ever." Sam's phone started vibrating, and he pulled it out to check quick. "I can switch to a different character if you want. Go easy on you a little."

Ryder laughed. "Nah, I want to beat you at full strength. It's bound to happen eventually, right?"

"Not if I have anything to say about it." Sam grinned, then brightened further when he realized that the text was from Blaine, eagerly opening it. It read, _Brittany doesn't want to break up with you, but she does still love Santana. Make sure not to break her heart, because she loves you, too._ A second later, he received another message from Blaine. This one read _About the text you sent me earlier: I feel the same way._

"Good news?" Ryder asked.

"Yup," Sam said, choosing to focus on the good parts. Mostly the second text Blaine had sent, which made his stomach flip until he wanted to giggle like crazy, as unmanly as that sounded. But also the part about Brittany loving Santana. Okay, so maybe she didn't want to break up, but Sam had already known that, so it didn't change a thing. Knowing for sure that she loved Santana, however, would make things way easier. Not to mention make him feel way less guilty about what he was doing. That wasn't stuff that he wanted to explain to Ryder, though, so he just said, "Let's play again."

When his phone buzzed again a minute later, Sam made Ryder pause the game so that he could check it, already grinning with anticipation. It couldn't be Blaine three times in a row, right? What else could he have to say? But then, it would be just like Blaine to magically know how happy the texts were making Sam and send him a bunch of random ones because of that.

His first response was disappointment, followed by confusion, when he saw that the number wasn't in his contacts. Frowning, he pressed the button to open the text, then swore his heart actually stopped for a minute. Maybe that was an exaggeration, but it was what it felt like.

_This is Kitty. I saw the text you send Blaine. You two are so busted._


	7. Chapter 7

"Blaine, Sue called you down to the office," Mr. Schue said.

Blaine glanced up from his Spanish worksheet. Mr. Schue made a motion toward the door. "I think it has to do with the Cheerios competition. You should go see what she wants."

Blaine stood, nodding at Mr. Schue like this really wasn't a big deal, but secretly he was worried. Last time he'd been sent down to her office, he'd ended up being humiliated in front of the entire school, his parents had nearly gotten in serious trouble with the IRS, his hair had been plastered to his head with cement, and he'd been forced into rejoining the squad against his will. So, yeah, there was a bit of a reason why he wasn't so keen on going back there. Sam glanced over and met his eyes, clearly thinking along the same lines. Blaine offered a small smile to reassure him and left the room, feeling strangely like a soldier heading off to battle.

Although, considering Sue's guerrilla-warfare tactics, maybe it wasn't so strange a comparison.

Still, it probably wasn't that big a deal. A week ago she'd kept him after practice to give him a consent form that would let her use him in some lion-taming routine, which he had obviously refused to sign. Most likely this was another attempt to get him to agree. Although, that was still a fairly terrifying thought. After everything she'd done to him last time, he really didn't want to see what evil plots she had left.

The last thing he expected was to see Brittany and Kitty waiting outside her office. He frowned. "She called you down, too?"

"Obviously," Kitty said, her voice dripping scorn. "We got here a few minutes ago, but she said we're not allowed inside until her token gay showed up." Kitty pushed open the office door before Blaine got the chance to ask if that had been Sue's wording or hers. Not that it mattered, really. It was still insulting.

"Sit," Sue said as the three of them entered, without any preamble. Brittany gave him a nervous glance, and he squeezed her hand quickly before stepping forward. In place of the normal chairs usually in front of her desk, she had placed three little-kid chairs, like the kinds designed for kindergarteners to use. Blaine wasn't sure what the point of that could be, except to make them feel ridiculous.

Truthfully, it was kind of working, considering he didn't have close to a chance of fitting into it, and ended up sitting awkwardly on the arms instead. Kitty seemed like the only one who actually fit, just barely. Not to mention that Sue could now glare down at them from about four feet above their heads.

"Now," Sue said, fairly pleasantly. "Does someone want explain why you three are here?"

"Uh, because you called us?" Blaine asked. Not that there was any chance that the reason was actually something sane like that.

"There isn't another cannon I need to be shot out of, right?" Brittany asked. "Because I still don't want to do it, and I had nightmares for a week after you told me that the baby cannons would eat my soul if I let them die."

Blaine frowned. "Wait, what?"

"I take it none of you want to come clean about a certain illegal performance that took place during my absence yesterday?" Sue casually reached for a ruler and began smacking her palm as she spoke, making a thwap sound each time it hit her skin.

"What are you talking about?" Kitty demanded. "Yeah, we showed off some moves for the glee club. So what?"

"So you admit to the crime," Sue said, smacking the ruler on the desk to punctuate her sentence. "Good, this makes things easier. I've heard that it will even gain you mercy in areas not ruled by Sue Sylvester. However, since you've all essentially sold me your souls when you joined the Cheerios, you should know that I have no intention of letting you go unpunished."

"I don't even see what we did," Blaine said. "What do you mean illegal performance?"

Sue pulled out thick stacks of papers from her desk and tossed them into all three of their laps. It took only a second for Blaine to recognize it as his contract. It was flipped open to one of the last pages. Highlighted at the bottom, in letters so small that Blaine had to hold the paper an inch from his face in order to even read it, were the words _All moves, choreography, words, actions, facial expressions, and/or unintelligent noises used in any Cheerios routines, whether intentionally or otherwise, are the sole property of Sue Sylvester and cannot be replicated during any other performance without written permission._ He stared up at her. "What does this even mean?"

"Quite simply, it means that every single thing you do during one of my routines belongs to me," she said, leaning against her desk. "Every. Single. Thing. If you walk during my routine, that walk belongs to me. If you blink or move your head or lift your arms, those movements belong to me. If you so much as breath while performing one of my routines, I am legally able to forbid you from breathing during any of the God-awful routines that that fluffy-headed failure of a Spanish teacher comes up with. I mean, seriously, who in their right mind would have him teach Spanish? He doesn't know what he's talking about!"

Blaine exchanged looks with Brittany and Kitty. Kitty had her legs crossed and was staring down at her nails, looking completely bored, though the tension in her shoulders gave her away. Brittany was staring at Sue with wide eyes and biting her lip.

"My point is," Sue said, "I have been an extremely reasonable person. Would any of you disagree?"

"What about putting cement in my hair gel was reasonable?" Blaine couldn't help but ask.

Sue shrugged. "My original plan was to fill it with a highly corrosive acid, but the little voice in the spot where my conscious used to be reminded me that you wouldn't be able to perform from the hospital burn unit."

"I was in the burn unit once," Brittany said. "Apparently curling irons and clothes irons aren't the same thing."

Sue didn't even glance in her direction. "But now you've gone and betrayed my trust." She slowly moved around her desk and began circling behind the three of them, so that they couldn't see her unless they did what Brittany was doing, which was bending her neck completely back to stare up at Sue. No way would Blaine give Sue the satisfaction. She continued, "My co-captain, her less-talented clone, and her midget minion decided to hand over my carefully-planned routine to the very enemy I have spent the past four years trying to destroy. Do you realize how hard it will be to come up with a brand new routine for our competition now that our secrets have been revealed?"

Kitty rolled her eyes. "You don't have to make a new routine. The New Directions aren't actually using any of it for Regionals."

"That's irrelevant." Sue laid one hand on Blaine's shoulder, fingernails digging into his skin for a second before she moved on. "But more than the illegality of the act or the betrayal of my trust, there is the fact that you three went behind my back. Me, the great Sue Sylvester. I have spent my entire career building up a wall of fear that should leave you as sobbing messes who is too busy wetting themselves to even consider betraying me, and now you take that fear and spit it back into my face." She'd circled around to stand behind her desk once again, and leaned forward, as close to the three of them as she could get with the desk blocking her way. "And for that..."

Blaine tensed up, wondering what she could possibly come up with as a punishment. It wasn't like they'd be kicked off the squad, and even if they were, Blaine wouldn't mind (except for the fact that it'd be harder to take Sue down from outside the Cheerios, but Nightbird and Blonde Chameleon would probably be up for the challenge). But then, there were plenty of other ways she could get her revenge. Blaine wasn't even sure what those ways would be, but if Sue was behind it, it wouldn't be good.

"I have to respect you," Sue finished, sitting down and folding her hands in her lap.

Blaine's mouth came close to literally falling open, and he could tell that Kitty and Brittany felt the same way. "Does this mean that you're not going to kick us off the squad?" Brittany asked quietly.

"I want to know what the deal here is," Kitty said. "No way do I believe that you're going to let us get away with this."

"Who said anything about you getting away?" Sue asked. "All I'm saying is that I'm proud. You three went behind my back, and though your pathetic little plan to hide this from me failed due to my all-knowing spies scattered throughout the school, I have to give you credit for actually attempting it. You showed initiative, and proved that you're not afraid to make yourself my enemy. Now I no longer have to feel guilty should I choose to crush you."

"Do you ever feel guilt?" Blaine asked. He thought back, and... yeah, he couldn't think of anything. Supposedly she'd proven that she had a human side back when Kurt was being bullied badly and she'd stuck up for him, but looking at her now, Blaine kind of had a hard time believing it was true. It sounded more like an urban legend.

Blaine had meant it as rhetorical, but Sue tilted her head and seemed to consider it seriously. "Occasionally, when I ponder the fact that I am merely the head of a long line of people who will push you down and crap on your faces, and that you are all destined to squander your lives on useless singing and dancing until you drown in your own inferiority, while I continue to ascend to the metaphorical top of the Cheerio pyramid. But now those last remnants of guilt have been ripped from my nonexistent soul, and I no longer have qualms about ruining every last shred of happiness in your miserable lives."

"I don't understand those words she used," Brittany whispered to Blaine. "What did she mean?"

Sue answered before Blaine got a chance to figure out how he could possibly translate Sue-speak into Brittany-speak (it was harder than it sounded, considering they were two completely different brands of crazy). "For one, it means the end of the unspoken truce between the New Directions and the Cheerios. I haven't once tried to sabotage your little singing group this year-"

"What do you call steeling our choir room, then?" Blaine demanded.

Sue blinked. "Why, that was entirely your doing. I wouldn't have gotten that room if you hadn't been such horrific failures at Sectionals. But now this truce has ceased to exist, and you are out of your gel-coated mind if you believe that I will let you even have a chance at Regionals."

The bell rang before she could go off on any more of her threats. "You may go," she said. "You have ten seconds to get out of my office before I use you all as target practice for my new Sue shuriken."

They hastily stood, working themselves free from the toddler chairs with some difficulty and hurrying out of the room. It wasn't until the door closed behind them that anyone dared to speak.

"Well, this was a brilliant idea, Blaine," Kitty snapped. "If we lose at Regionals now, I'm making sure everyone knows it was your fault."

"Hey, I didn't know this would happen," Blaine argued. "And you could have stopped me if you wanted. That contract is over a hundred pages long – how were any of us supposed to know what it said?"

"And mine was even longer, because she attached pictures of dinosaurs to the end of it," Brittany added. "She said I could just color them instead of signing my name because the letters were confusing me."

Kitty just flicked her ponytail over her shoulder and didn't answer.

"Blaine?" a familiar voice asked. He glanced up to see Sam walking down the hall, looking concerned. "What did Sue want? Is she plotting something again? She didn't find out about our plan to – oh, hey Kitty, Brittany." Sam seemed to notice the two girls for the first time and quickly bit off all talk of their plan to take Sue down. Which was probably smart, considering how close they were to her office, and the fact that she apparently had ways of finding out everything.

Kitty smiled in a way that made a chill go down Blaine's back. "How nice of you to come down here and check on... Brittany." She gave Blaine a long look that made it clear that she knew who Sam was really here for. "And thanks to your boyfriend here, Sue is going to kill us at Regionals."

"I'm not his boyfriend," Blaine said, way too quickly, then winced at how obvious that sounded.

Brittany reached over and patted the top of his head, clearly not picking up that anything was wrong. "No, he just wants to be," she said brightly, then frowned. "Was that a secret?"

Blaine coughed and tried to speak, which was suddenly a whole lot harder to do, considering how dry his throat had suddenly gotten. But it didn't look like Sam would figure out how to say anything any time soon, so that left it up to him. "No, it wasn't a secret," he managed. At least not to Sam and Kitty, since they clearly already knew. (Sam had told him about Kitty's text on the way to school this morning.) "Just... don't say it to anyone else, okay?" Brittany nodded and smiled at him, pulling her hand away and using the residual gel left on her palm to draw gooey swirls on her arm.

Kitty's smile was more of a smirk now. "Oh, I see," she said, then turned to Sam. "Anyway, I'm leaving you two to figure out how to deal with this Sue mess, since it was Blaine's fault that she's mad at us in the first place, and we know he was only doing it to seduce you." She walked off before either of them could say another word.

"Are you still planning on coming to Fondue for Two?" Brittany asked, oblivious to the tension. She wiped a smudge of gel onto Blaine's cheek, still smiling.

"There's no way I'd miss it," Blaine said honestly. "Tomorrow, right after glee, right?" He'd have to miss another Advance D+D meeting in order to make it, plus it meant he'd miss the sewing club meeting for the eighth week in a row, but it was worth it.

"Exactly," Brittany said. "Except this time you need to bring your own things to dip into the fondue because Lord Tubbington used the marshmallows I bought to make tiny snowmen."

"Sounds good," Blaine agreed, checking his watch. Class started in two minutes. If he ran, he'd just barely make it. "See you later," he said, then took off.

He was only barely within earshot when he heard Brittany say, "You should come over tomorrow after the show! I have a surprise for you!"

And just before he turned the corner, he heard Sam agree.

* * *

"What are you doing?" Sam demanded.

Kitty glanced up and raised one eyebrow. "I should be asking you that, considering you're the one who's creeping next to my locker." She slammed her locker door and leaned against it, holding her books to her chest and looking super innocent. Or, she would have, if Sam didn't know the truth.

"You know. What happened earlier. When you," he lowered his voice and glanced around nervously, "outed me."

"Oh, please," she scoffed, "You call that outing? All I said was that Blaine has a crush on you, and come on, you'd have to be blind, deaf, and mentally handicapped in order to miss that one. I never said that you liked him back."

"Keep your voice down," Sam hissed. He took her elbow and tugged her toward an out-of-the-way corner. But gently, because he couldn't mistreat a lady, no matter how mad he was at her.

"What's wrong," Kitty asked, even more scorn dripping into her voice. "Ashamed to let the school know that Blaine gave you the gay? Trying to keep your torrid little affair a secret so Brittany doesn't know you're cheating?"

"I'm not cheating," he protested immediately, pushing aside thoughts of that first kiss he'd shared with Blaine... and the ones after, lying on his bed and kissing lightly for the whole afternoon, until he'd had to go get ready for his date with Brittany. They didn't count, because... because they just didn't. "And I'm not ashamed of liking Blaine. I just don't want the school to know until we're ready."

"Uh huh." She nodded along, but obviously didn't believe him. "Tell me this, then. Brittany has spent the past couple days going on about how she's going to be talking to unicorns on her stupid show. So why aren't you on it? She doesn't know you're a closeted bicorn, does she?"

"Bicorn?"

"A unicorn who likes both. Gosh, keep up." She shook her head, then stopped and made a face. "I have been spending way too much time with Brittany," she muttered to herself, then continued, "Point is, she must have told you all about the show. So why didn't you even pipe up with a casual 'Hey, I like guys, too!' It wouldn't change anything, since you know that she'd be fine with it. It'd probably make it a whole lot easier, since she'll at least have a little warning when you dump her for Blaine. So why not?"

Sam stared at her. He didn't have an answer. Which apparently was answer enough.

"I thought so," she said. "Hope Blaine is okay with your little insecurities. He makes such a big deal about the being-out thing. Maybe you should think before you drag him back to the closet." She said it cruelly, but Sam could hear something else in her voice. He wasn't sure, but he thought there might be a sincerity to it, like she really was trying to warn him.

"As interesting as it is to watch you stand there with your gaping mouth hanging open, I really don't want to talk to you," Kitty said, sidestepping Sam and starting to walk away.

He pulled himself together and called after her, "Wait! Are you going to tell anyone?"

She stopped and turned around, looking thoughtful. "I don't know. I owe it to Brittany, don't I? We've got to help each other out, considering we're both blonde cheerleaders who are dating complete losers."

The loser comment didn't even register, though it did seem weird that she was talking about her own boyfriend that way. But he didn't have time to wonder about that. "Please don't. I'm going to tell her, seriously. I just don't want to hurt her."

Kitty rolled her eyes. "Newsflash: it's going to suck whenever you tell her. Just hurry up with it." After a moment, her features softened slightly. "I won't say anything. But there has to be something in it for me."

That sure didn't sound good. "What do you want?" he asked, somewhat nervously. Hopefully it wouldn't be anything too expensive. Or humiliating. Or both.

She just smiled. "I'll let you know," she promised. She began to walk off, but only made it a few steps before glancing back at him. "And Sam? Think about what I said."

He was definitely going to. Harder than he'd ever thought about anything else in his life.


	8. Chapter 8

**Sorry this chapter is a day late! There were some serious issues with my first draft, and I decided it would be about a thousand times better to wait a day so I could turn it into something I was proud of instead of posting a horrible chapter that could kill the story.**

**Speaking of which, I need to send about a thousand thank yous to Tuuzmorado, my fabulous beta who read through the aforementioned horrible first draft and very kindly explained to me what I did wrong and how I had to fix it. The entire second half of this chapter was inspired by her amazing critique.**

* * *

Blaine walked over to Brittany as soon as they were done with their final group song on Friday. "You ready to go?" he asked. Since he was heading to her house already, he'd agreed to give her a ride so that her parents didn't have to pick her up.

She nodded eagerly. "This is going to be the best Fondue for Two ever. I've never had five guests at once before!"

"Four guests," he corrected. She didn't seem to hear him. He just shook his head and smiled, then called, "Ready, Sam?"

Sam was over at the other side of the stage, chatting with Ryder and Artie about something. He rose one hand above his head in a thumbs up without looking away or breaking off whatever he was saying. Blaine smiled at the sight. "Okay, Brittany and I are going to go get the car. I'll move it to the parking lot by the auditorium and meet you there as soon as you're done, okay?"

"You're the best, dude!" Sam turned and grinned at him for a moment, then looked back at Artie, throwing his head back and laughing a second later at something that the other boy said. Blaine stood there for a minute with a goofy smile on his face until Brittany waved her hand in front of his face and asked, "Blaine? Did someone hypnotize you, 'cause I thought you needed a watch for that." Then he cleared his throat and hurried out to the hallway, Brittany hot on his heels, still asking questions about hypnotism.

Joe followed them out, since he parked his car in the same area that Blaine did. "You and Sam are really close lately," he commented as they walked.

He meant it in a platonic way, obviously, but it still made Blaine nervous. He didn't want to talk about their relationship with anyone, especially not Joe, who Blaine didn't know all that well. It'd be way too easy to slip up and reveal too much. "We've always been close."

"Hey, no need to get defensive," Joe said, and Blaine inwardly cursed. Apparently his tone hadn't been as measured as he'd wanted. "I know you two have been best friends all year. I just noticed that the guilty-pleasure thing must have worked for bringing you two closer, since I seriously don't think I've seen one of you without the other all week." Blaine must have had a weird look on his face, because Joe said, "Hey, I'm not saying it's a bad thing. You two are lucky to have each other."

"Thanks," Blaine said, not really sure what else to say. "How are you doing?" he asked, then realized that he had no idea what the answer would be. He and Joe just didn't spend time together. They'd hung out in the gym last year, but no one really did that anymore.

Joe shrugged, pushing a few of his dreadlocks over his shoulder. "I've been good. They formed another Christian-student group to replace the one that Kitty basically destroyed at the start of the year, so I've been hanging out with them a lot."

"That's really nice, Joe," Brittany said. "I hope Christian is a nice guy."

"No, I'm not talking about a person named Christian," Joe explained. "Christianity is my religion."

She frowned. "Is there a religion called Brittanyanity, too? Was Christian the one to make it, 'cause I'd like to meet a religion leader."

Joe glanced at Blaine for help. Blaine shook his head. "Don't even try to explain," he said in a voice low enough that hopefully Brittany wouldn't overhear. "So you're liking the group?"

"Yeah, they're great," Joe said. "Actually, do you think you can help me out with something? There's this girl in the club. Her name's Coleen, and I was thinking about asking her out, but... I'm not sure how to do it. How do you do something like that?"

Blaine snorted. "I'm probably the worst person to ask about that," he admitted. "For one, I've never asked out a girl, so I'll be no help there. Second, I've only out two people in my life, and half of those times ended in extreme mutual embarrassment." Which reminded him, he wanted to call Jeremiah sometime and ask if he'd made any progress with his proposal. They'd exchanged a few texts on Tuesday, but hadn't actually talked to each other since they left the mall on Monday.

"Do you think it'd be too much to sing to her?" Joe asked. "I'm not sure if that'd be weird, but I really want to show that I care about her, you know?"

Blaine smiled. Judging by the expression on Joe's face, he was clearly completely infatuated with this girl. "I don't think so," Blaine said slowly, again thinking back to the Gap Attack. "Do it someplace private, though, so that there's nobody around if it ends badly. And I can give you a ton of advice about which songs _not_ to pick." Not that he really thought Joe would have any problems with that. "Do you need backup singers?"

"Yeah, I was kind of hoping the guys would help me out with that," Joe said.

"I'd love to, and I know Sam would, too." Sam was such a hopeless romantic that he'd probably go crazy with excitement as soon as he heard that Joe liked someone. Blaine couldn't help but grin at that mental image. Sam was so adorable when he got excited. "I can't think of any reason why the other guys wouldn't want to help. Maybe you can run some song ideas by the girls, see which ones they think are the most romantic."

Brittany nodded eagerly. "And the girls can watch you practice and tell you how sexy you look."

Joe instantly looked uncomfortable, and Blaine quickly jumped in. "I don't think Joe is going to want to aim for sexy. He'll be aiming for a more quiet, romantic vibe, right Joe?" Joe quickly nodded.

"But Santana always said that the best way to win a guy is through your sexy bits, and I'm pretty sure it works the same to win a girl, because that's how I got Santana," Brittany said. "Well, I got her because we were best friends and loved each other, but the lady kisses definitely helped."

"But that's not why you love a person," Joe said, something about his voice making him sound like he was proclaiming some great mystical truth. "It's not about their physical form. You fall for them because of who they are on the inside and what their soul is like."

"Exactly," Blaine said. "Like you said, you fell for Santana because of who she is, not how she looks." They reached the parking lot and split up, Joe heading to the left, Blaine and Brittany going to the right. "See you Monday!" Blaine called, giving him a wave.

"Is that why you fell for Sam?" Brittany asked as they walked away, sounding honestly curious.

Blaine quickly looked over his shoulder, hoping that Joe was far enough away that he didn't overhear. He didn't look like he was, but he hadn't reacted, either, so they were probably good. Still, Blaine was really wishing that Brittany hadn't figured it out. At this rate, their secret wouldn't last long. "Yes," he said simply, unlocking the car and getting in. "It's the same as with you and Santana."

"Except that Santana and I are both part dolphin, and Sam isn't," Brittany said. Blaine adjusted his seat belt and didn't respond

"Speaking of Sam, why is he coming with us?" Brittany asked.

"I'm dropping him off at his apartment before we go to your house," Blaine explained.

Luckily, Sam was waiting for them when they pulled into the auditorium parking lot. That would hopefully keep Brittany from saying anything more about his and Sam's relationship. "Thanks for waiting," Sam said, slipping into the back seat. "Some of the guys and I were planning a video game marathon at Ryder's house for next weekend. You want in?"

"Sure," Blaine said. He hadn't hung out with a big group of guys since last year, and he kind of liked the idea of doing it again. "Tell Ryder I'll bring snacks," he said as he slowed down and put his right turn signal on.

"Yes!" Sam exclaimed. "I was hoping you'd want to come. This is going to be awesome. Oh, and can you drop me off at the library instead of my house? Maybe the one by Brittany's house?"

Blaine was confused, but he nodded and shut his turn signal off, switching the left one on instead (Brittany and Sam's houses were in opposite directions of each other). "Of course I can, but why?" Sam never read anything that wasn't either mandatory for school or a comic book without many speech bubbles.

"I want to use the library computer so I can watch your show live," he explained. "There's no way I'm missing this."

"Okay," Blaine said. Normally he would offer to loan Sam his laptop, but since Brittany needed to use the camera on hers to record the show, he'd already offered to use his to Skype Kurt, Adam, and Santana.

"You can watch at my house," Brittany offered. "Like a live studio audience. It'll work perfectly, because I wanted to talk to you after the show anyway. And Lord Tubbington will be happy, because he'd been feeling bad lately ever since I stopped letting him cook the fondue because he was hiding the bodies of all the mice he murdered in the cheese. Now he can hold up a sign telling you when to applaud and hopefully feel useful again."

Blaine gagged and reminded himself not to eat anything that Brittany gave him.

"You won't mind having me there?" Sam asked.

"Not at all," Brittany said.

"Yeah, you should come," Blaine added. After all, if things went according to plan, then Brittany and Santana would be back together by the end of the night. He should at least be there to see it, even if he wasn't participating. Then again, Brittany might act differently if she knew that Sam was in the room.

It was a little too late to be worrying about that, though, because Sam was already saying, "Great. Don't worry, I'll sit behind the camera and not bother anyone."

Blaine's phone rang then. "Can you hand me that?" he asked Sam, gesturing toward his bag, which was on the floor by the back seat.

"It's from Kurt," Sam said, passing it up.

"Oh, good," Brittany exclaimed. "Ask him if he got my email about the dress code. A few minutes after I sent it I got a response with the word 'No' in super -big letters, and I'm not sure what that means."

Blaine couldn't help but chuckle at that – Kurt never let _anyone_ tell him how to dress – but still felt a little nervous about answering. He couldn't think of a reason why Kurt would want to reach him twenty minutes before they were scheduled to see each other anyway. "Hello?"

"Hey, Blaine!" Kurt sounded perky and excited, a far cry from the way they'd spoken to each other on Monday, and a definite improvement. "How are you doing?"

"Good," he answered. "Right now I'm driving Sam and Brittany over to Brittany's house so we can get ready."

"Okay, so Brittany can hear everything you say," Kurt said. "Just be careful what you say so that she doesn't figure out what we're talking about. Wait, did you say Sam's coming to Brittany's with you?"

"Yeah, he's going to be our audience," Blaine said, more than a little confused with why their conversation had to be kept secret from Brittany. "Why?"

"Just wondering," Kurt said. Blaine could practically hear the shrug in his voice. "I was just calling to talk strategy. Sorry it's so last minute – I would've called yesterday, but you would not believe how long my dance instructor kept us after class, and after that the time just slipped away. But anyway, what do you have in mind?"

Blaine frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Well, you're plan to get Santana and Brittany together." There was a muffled shout, then Kurt said, "For the record, Adam still maintains that it's a bad idea. But anyway, how do you want to do this? You and Sam must have something planned."

"Uh..." That was the plan. They'd get Brittany and Santana together. Period. He and Sam had meant to figure out how that would actually be accomplished, and they'd certainly spent a ton of time alone when they could have discussed it. But they never had.

Kurt guessed that immediately, of course. "You've got nothing, do you?"

"We're just going to see what happens," Blaine said. That would work, right? They would find some way to do it.

"Listen, Blaine," Kurt said, "The whole idea behind this is that we're trying to keep Brittany from getting hurt, right? Well, you two are kind of failing that if you go in and mess this up because you have no idea what's going on."

Blaine really didn't want what Kurt said to be right, but the sinking in his stomach said that it was. Blaine had told Sam on Monday that there was no way to avoid Brittany getting hurt, but neither of them wanted that, so what did they do? Make halfhearted plans to keep that from happening, but not coming up with anything solid. Not that Blaine actually know what they could have planned for this. Subtle ways to make Santana and Brittany flirt with each other? Reminiscing about the good times that Brittany and Santana shared? (And yeah, wouldn't _that_ be an awkward topic for Blaine to bring up out of nowhere?) There was no guarantee that either of those things would actually work.

"I'll tell you what we're going to do," Kurt said, probably reading the silence and figuring out that Blaine was panicking, just a little. "Set up the Skype as soon as you get to her room, and Adam and I will keep her distracted while you and Sam go talk it out. Adam hasn't heard her explain the difference between unicorns and dolphins yet. I'm sure he'd just love to hear it." Kurt laughed. "You should see his face – he's completely confused now. That should buy you ten minutes, at least."

"Thanks, Kurt," Blaine said sincerely. "You're the best."

"If you're really thankful, I take payment in the form of flowers and chocolates," Kurt said.

Blaine smiled. "You're joking, but I will," he said. He meant it, too.

Kurt laughed. God, Blaine had missed that sound. "I think my boyfriend and your not-boyfriend would get a little jealous," Kurt said. "But thanks anyway. See you in a little bit."

"Bye," Blaine said, then hung up and tossed the phone back to Sam to put in his bag again.

"What were you talking about?" Sam asked.

"Nothing much," Blaine answered, mindful of Brittany listening. He glanced at her as he pulled into her driveway and said, "Kurt wants us to set up the Skype call early. He has a few questions."

"Okay," Brittany agreed easily. There clearly wasn't a suspicious bone in her body.

It only took a minute to get the laptop set up in her room. "I'll go get the fondue," Blaine quickly offered, already heading toward the door. He eyes Sam until the other boy got the hint.

"I'll help," Sam said, hurrying after Blaine. Brittany nodded, not looking up from the laptop. She seemed to be having a bit of trouble finding the power button. That would help with the distraction, as long as she didn't try to find Blaine and ask him where it was.

* * *

Sam didn't really know what was going on, only that Blaine had talked to his ex-boyfriend, and complimented him, and now he was saying that this was a bad idea.

"What do you mean?" Sam asked, leaning back against the counter. They were in the kitchen, and had found the fondue easily (it was being kept warm on the stove, meaning that at least one of her parents must have been home. Thankfully, they were nowhere to be found.)

"I mean that we have no idea what we're doing," Blaine said, his voice low. "The whole point is to not hurt her, right? But what if we're doing it wrong? Think about it. How do we even plan on getting them together?"

Sam opened his mouth to answer – and immediately shut it again. After a few moments of thinking, he said, "We could get Santana to confess her feelings." But his voice was limp. Even he didn't really believe it.

And as if he didn't already know that, Blaine immediately tore that idea to shreds. "She already knows Santana's feelings. And she chose you last time. Why wouldn't she do it this time?"

"Because we're having problems?" he said. "Last time we were completely happy. Now we're not. That could change things."

"I think you just need to say it," Blaine said quietly. "Even if she did fall in love with Santana, one of you would still have to make it official. There was never any way to avoid it."

But Sam wanted there to be. Doing anything to cause her pain went completely against everything he stood for. You _never _hurt someone if you could avoid it, and especially not a girl. "Come on, the plan could still work."

"If you can think of a way to do that, then go for it," Blaine said. "But I really don't think you'll be able to. Kurt pointed it out in the car – we have no idea how to make this plan work. All we know is that we want it to, but we never figured out how."

Sam winced. Because yeah, that was pretty accurate.

"Just think about it," Blaine said.

Sam was going to have to.

Because wasn't that what Kitty had said, too? He'd done what she'd said and given her words a ton of thought, but he'd been focused on the part about not being able to date Blaine if he wasn't out (and he hadn't made any progress with those thoughts, either). Maybe that had been the wrong part to concentrate on. Or, at least it wasn't the only part he should have thought about.

"I can't do it now," Sam said. They were going to be online, and there was no way their breakup was going to be on the Internet forever. That would be way too cruel.

"After the show," Blaine said. "You were going to talk to her anyway. I'll drive to the park by her house and wait for you there."

Sam swallowed. He still couldn't shake the thought that this was the worst idea ever, but then, everyone else seemed to think that the matchmaking thing was the worst one, so who was he to argue? He'd messed up all his relationships; who was he to think that he had the slightest idea what was right and wrong?

"Okay," he agreed. Blaine leaned forward and gave him a quick hug. Sam leaned into it for five seconds – he counted – and then moved back. Because as much as he loved their awesome hugs, it just felt wrong when they were in Brittany's house, talking about how he was going to break her heart.

"Let's get this upstairs," Blaine said, picking up the pot on fondue. Sam nodded and followed behind. Mentally, he was trying to work out some math, which wasn't the kind of thing he did often.

They had five minutes until they were supposed to start the show. The shows usually lasted ten minutes, but Brittany had been talking about making this one extra-long because she had so many guests. No matter how he added it up, it always came out to not enough time to figure out what was the right thing to do.


	9. Chapter 9

**Another chapter being posted a day late. :( At least this time, it was because my Internet was having problems last night, and not because I didn't have it ready. Still, I need to work on getting back on schedule.**

**As always, my beta is amazing. Everyone send major love to Tuuzmorado!**

* * *

By the time Blaine and Sam got back to the room, Brittany had already started the Skype call and was chatting with Santana, Adam, and Kurt. Even though the plan to set Brittany and Santana up was supposedly dead, Sam couldn't help noticing the way Santana still looked at her. Maybe there was hope for it, after all. Okay, so Blaine was right about the fact that Brittany would never cheat on him. But there was still a chance that they could both want to break up, and if that happened, then she wouldn't be upset when he told her. In fact, she'd probably be relieved, since she wouldn't want to break up with him any more than he wanted to break up with her. If he could just make Brittany fall in love-

No, wasn't that what everyone else said wouldn't work. He shook his head, trying to keep those thoughts away. Because they were probably right that someone would get hurt no matter what. Blaine had said it, Adam had said it, Kitty had said it. They couldn't all be wrong, could they? Especially not when Blaine knew pretty much everything.

"Thanks." Brittany said, smiling at the fondue in Blaine's hands. "You can set it down on the table, but don't let Lord Tubbington near it. I baked him spaghetti and chocolate cake for later and I don't want him to spoil his appetite."

She was seriously going to kill that cat one of these days. "Where do you want me to sit?" Sam asked.

She pointed to a chair behind him, next to the door. "You stay there and do what Lord Tubbington tells you. I've put him in charge of handling all guests. Be careful, because I think he has a taser hidden in his tail."

Sam hurried to take his seat. Not that he really thought that her cat would taser him... But, you know, better safe than sorry.

"Hey, Sam!" Kurt said, waving happily from the laptop screen. Adam smiled as well. Santana looked less pleased. "How are you doing? Did you and Blaine find the fondue okay?"

Santana rolled her eyes. "Of course they did, it's right there," she scoffed. But Sam got the message. Blaine had mentioned that it was Kurt's idea that they talk, so he knew Kurt was asking about that, not the cheese.

"Yeah, it's good," he said.

"Nice to see you two again," Adam said, beaming around the room. Sam had only seen him twice, and already he was starting to wonder if it was physically possible for the dude to not act cheerful. Sam wasn't so sure. Which was probably a good thing, since Kurt could use that.

Santana frowned, giving them a suspicious look. "Again? When did you see them before?"

Blaine jumped in. "We called to ask his opinion for our 'Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go' costumes and Adam was hanging around."

Adam quickly picked up the hint, and quickly said, "Oh, yes, exactly. How did that performance go, by the way?"

Santana interrupted before Sam or Blaine could answer. "No way. Brittany sent me pictures of those costumes. Like Lady Roommate had anything to do with those neon nightmares."

"Anyway, should we get started?" Kurt interupted. "Adam and I have Adam's Apples rehearsal in an hour."

"Will that be enough time?" Adam asked anxiously. "I can try to postpone practice if you need me to. I don't particularly want to, but if you need me to, then I could." He gave a smile that even Sam (who wasn't attracted to most guys besides Blaine) had to admit was pretty adorable. It was enough to make Kurt start giving him really obvious heart-eyes.

"That's enough time," Brittany said. "We're about ready to start, but first, everyone needs to get into your costumes." She reached down and grabbed something from under the bed, then swiftly pulled out a unicorn hat like the one she'd used when managing Kurt's campaign last year and stuck it on Blaine's head. "You all got yours, didn't you?" she asked, looking toward the laptop.

Santana rolled her eyes but pulled a hat out of her bag. This one was shaped like a dolphin. "Only for you, Britt," she grumbled as she put it on.

"Oh, these are adorable," Adam said, looking back and forth between Blaine and Santana. "Do we get to wear hats, too? And why does she get a dolphin is Blaine is a unicorn?"

"No way in hell am I putting that on," Kurt mumbled, at the same time that Brittany grinned and answered, "Santana is a dolphin because dolphins are gay sharks, so you have to be tough like a shark if you want to be a dolphin. Unicorns are gay horses, so being a unicorn means that your graceful and pretty, like one of those horses from the cartoons that have flowers in their manes. Or you could be both, like Kurt."

"I'd like to see what his hat would look like if he's both," Adam mused, turning to Kurt. "Why didn't you make yourself one?" Kurt just smacked his arm lightly and didn't answer.

"I think I've been insulted," Blaine grumbled, dropping down into his chair, which was next to the table with the laptop on it. The chairs and laptop were all turned toward the camera, so it was as if the group in New York were all sitting next to Blaine. "I'm definitely tough enough to be a dolphin. You should see me in fight club if you don't believe me."

"Fight club?" Sam asked. Not that he thought Blaine wasn't strong - definitely not, Sam had seen him attack the punching bag before - but Blaine really didn't seem like the type. Dude was too damn cuddly to ever hurt anyone.

Blaine just shook his head and made a motion like he was locking his lips.

"Okay, so Adam and Kurt don't have hats," Brittany said. She was now wearing a unicorn hat of her own, though hers had two horns instead of one. A bicorn hat. "It's okay, I came prepared." She pulled out another unicorn hat and stretched it over the top of the laptop screen. Surprisingly, it fit. "There. Now we can start the show. Oh, wait, Sam needs one." She ran off to her closet and tossed a white beanie at his head.

"Uh, what's this?" he asked, looking at it with a frown.

"If you liked guys, then you'd be a unicorn, not a dolphin. But you're neither, so you get a unicorn hat without any horns," Brittany explained. "If I'd knows you were coming then I would have added a mane. Just pretend that you live in the Enchanted Forest, and one of your elf friends shaved you while you were sleeping."

Sam said nothing, clenching his hands around the beanie. He had the feeling that if he looked up, Adam, Kurt, and Blaine would all be watching him, silently encouraging him to say something. He just didn't know how to get the words out - especially since Brittany would have him join the show if he said it now, and no way did he want to be all over the Internet now. He didn't but the hat on, though. At least, not until Lord Tubbington brushed against his leg. Then Sam quickly stuck the hat on his head, just in case Brittany had been right about the taser thing.

"Then we're ready to start," Brittany said, reaching forward to adjust her own laptop so that the camera pointed at them. "Action," she said, and the theme music began.

* * *

"Hello," she said as soon as the music was done. "I'm Brittany, and welcome to Fondue for Two! As my guests today, I have my friends Santana, Blaine, and Kurt. Plus Adam, who I've never actually met before, but he comes from Narnia, where they speak in weird voices."

"Actually, I'm from England," Adam corrected.

"Moving on." Brittany smiled at the camera and gestured toward Blaine's hat. "As you can see, we are talking about unicorn and dolphin rights today. Blaine, how do you feel about being a unicorn?"

He frowned. That was a rather vague question. "What exactly do you mean?"

"I mean that the other kids at school are mean to you," Brittany said simply. "Do you ever get tired of galloping on rainbows and want to eat grass like the horses and mules do?"

Blaine almost thought that her understood her metaphor. The bit at the end was confusing, but he got enough to make him shift uncomfortably in his chair. Across from him, Sam suddenly sat up much straighter, watching Blaine with an intensity that made him really uncomfortable. "Nah, they've been really tame this year," he said causally. "I mean, the glee kids always get bullied. Besides, the people who are mean about it are the ones that I really don't care about."

"Blaine?" Kurt said, sounding suspicious. "Has anything happened."

"No, of course not," he said quickly, and entirely honestly. The confrontation in the gym didn't count. Sure, it had been humiliating, but it hadn't gotten any worse. So really, no big deal. "I'd tell someone if it actually got bad."

Kurt's snort told him how much he believed that.

"Anyway, it's only a couple more months until graduation," Blaine said. "I can handle a few nasty names until then."

"You shouldn't have to," Adam said. Great, now even the guy that Blaine hardly knew was gaining up on him. In front of the Internet. He was really starting to regret this plan, for more than the fact that trying to set Santana and Brittany up wouldn't work.

"Oh, come on, shorty can take care of himself," Santana said. "I bet ya fifty bucks right now that Blaine could kick any of their asses."

He blinked. "Thanks," he said, not quite sure where this vote of confidence had come from, but enjoying it nonetheless.

Brittany nodded, looking completely convinced. Sam, not so much, but at least he wasn't saying anything during filming. Blaine got the feeling that they'd be talking about it later, even though there was really nothing to say.

"Now, Kurt," Brittany said. She glanced down at the cards and read, "Is sex with Adam better than sex with Blaine?"

Blaine spluttered and turned to Brittany. "_What?_" he demanded at the same time as Kurt demanded, "What kind of question is that?"

"Santana wrote it," Brittany explained, looking like she really didn't understand what the problem was. And truthfully, she probably didn't. "She said it was revenge because Kurt keeps burning those scented candles that she hates and yesterday he moved all her makeup and stuff under the sink to make room for his supply of backup hairspray."

"So who is it, wankenstein?" Santana asked, amusement obvious in her voice. "I'd say it was Adam. No offense to the Hobbit, but he never struck me as the experienced type, you know?"

"Oh, god." Blaine covered his face with his hand, refusing to let the camera see how red his face was turning. Please, let nobody at school see this.

"Can we not talk about this?" Kurt asked, his voice getting higher as he got more anxious.

When Santana spoke, Blaine could practically hear the smirk. "Wow, Lady. I'd figured you would have gotten over the blushing-virgin phase by now."

"As interesting as it would be to hear the answer," Adam interrupted, "Kurt and I haven't had sex yet, so asking his opinion is a moot point."

"Seriously?" Santana demanded. "But he's spent the night, like, twenty times."

"Please just change the subject, Brittany," Kurt begged. "And for the record, that was only one time, and he was on the couch."

"Okay, my next question," Brittany said, and Blaine dared to lift his face to look at her. "Blaine, you are apparently a hobbit from Lord of the Rings. Do you think that Kurt is dating Adam because C. S. Lewis is a better author than Tolkien?"

"Uh, no, I don't think that's the reason," Blaine said, relaxing slightly. Novels were a safe topic, even if Brittany's reasoning was odd.

"For the second time, I'm not from Narnia," Adam said, still sounding far too amused.

"If I walked into my closet, would I be transported to where you're sitting right now, or would I go to your homeland?" Brittany asked. "Do you know Aslan? Because Lord Tubbington wants his autograph."

"Uh, neither and no," Adam said, making Brittany pout.

"If it wasn't because he knows Aslan, then why do you think Kurt is dating Adam?" she asked, turning back to Blaine.

"Uh, wasn't this supposed to be about gay rights in general?" Blaine asked, shifting in his seat. "Shouldn't we be talking about stuff like that instead of our personal lives?"

Brittany shook her head. "My audience is the people of McKinley who have no lives of their own and have to spend their Friday evenings on the computer watching videos like this. They don't want facts. They want the juicy details, and I have to give it to them, otherwise their might be a riot." Blaine gave her a strange look, but she just nodded.

"I'll give you a hot piece of gossip," Santana announced. Blaine glanced over at her. She was leaning back in her chair, arms crossed, looking smug. "Guess who found a new hot piece of ass to lie with?"

"You got a girlfriend?" Brittany squealed, clapping her hands and bouncing so hard that she nearly fell out of her chair. "That's great, Santana! I'm so happy for you!"

Blaine froze, then quickly tried to school his expression into nothing more than surprise. But he couldn't help glancing at Sam, who was staring with eyes as wide as Blaine's probably were. All week, they'd never even imagine that Santana might have moved on. Blaine suddenly felt a rush of gratitude that they hadn't tried to set her and Brittany up.

But this meant that Brittany wouldn't be able to go back to her after the break-up. And after their conversation in the locker room, Blaine knew that Brittany would want to when Sam was out of the picture. Over the course of one day, probably less than an hour, Brittany was going to have her boyfriend break up with her and learn that she didn't have a chance of getting back together with the girl she also loved. That would just make it so much harder for Sam to break the news.

Blaine hoped that Sam wouldn't realize how much that this might hurt Brittany, but judging by the look on her face, he already did.

"How come you haven't said anything about her?" Kurt demanded, turning in his seat to face her.

Santana raised her eyebrows. "Who said anything about a girlfriend? I found a hot girl with her own apartment to wank until she screams. And as for your question, ladybits, maybe she's my dirty little secret."

Okay, so she wasn't in a relationship. Maybe that meant that it wouldn't be as bad when Sam broke up with Brittany, because there was still a chance that Santana would dump her new hook-up to go back to Brittany?

Yeah, Blaine had to stop thinking about this. He and Sam had decided against the matchmaking thing - and Blaine had been the one arguing in favor of giving it up. But he couldn't really help it. He still wanted the break up to go as smoothly as possible, for both of their sakes. There might not be a way to avoid hurting her, but there were variations in how deep this would cut, and Blaine wanted to keep those wounds as light as possible.

"You never answered my question, Blaine," Brittany suddenly said, turning back to Blaine.

He stopped himself before he could swear, though he definitely thought the word in his head. Just when he'd thought that the subject had been changed... "We just didn't work out," he said awkwardly, not sure what else to say. There was no way that he'd get into the details of their break up while online for everyone at McKinley to see. It just wasn't happening. "Can we talk about something else?"

"Like the rumors that you and Sam are dating?" Brittany asked. "For the record, they're not true. Sam is still my boyfriend."

If Blaine had been uncomfortable before, it was nothing compared to how he felt now. "There are rumors about that?"

"There are rumors about everything," Brittany said sagely, then turned toward the camera. "Sam is in our studio audience right now. Why don't we call him up so he can tell us about it?" Sam looked panicked for a moment, shaking his head, obviously trying to be casual about it and not doing a very good job. Brittany didn't seem to notice the expression on his face, because she said, "Come on, it'll be fun!" She reached forward and turned the laptop around so that it pointed toward Sam instead. "Smile for the camera."


	10. Chapter 10

**Super thanks to my beta, Tuuzmorado, as always!**

* * *

Sam smiled, like Brittany had told him to, trying to avoid looking as awkward as he felt. Because, shit, he hadn't planned to actually be on camera. Especially not to talk about the rumors. Maybe if he'd had some time, he would've come up with a response, but off the top of his head like this... No. No way. He couldn't.

"Shouldn't you be talking about dolphins and unicorns and stuff?" he asked. "I don't think I'll be much help with those things." Technically, he wasn't lying. For one, he wasn't gay. He was either half-dolphin or half-unicorn (he didn't understand Brittany's system enough to figure out which he'd be), and he was confused out of his mind most of the time, so he wouldn't be able to come up with anything to say that would actually make sense to anyone. Except maybe Blaine, because Blaine just seemed to get him. But definitely not to the people watching this online - and that didn't matter, because he wasn't about to admit to being bisexual.

Crap, he didn't mean to think it like that. "Admit to" - that made it sound like he was ashamed of it, and he totally wasn't, because Blaine was awesome so Sam would be super lucky to date him and shouldn't care who knew it. He just meant that he wanted to think of a better way to say it instead of blurting it on the Internet. Yeah, that was right.

Sam's thoughts were out of control. He really had to work on that.

"This is about unicorns," Brittany explained, thankfully turning the laptop around so that the camera pointed back at her and the other guests. "Blaine is a unicorn and Sam is just a regular horse, but they're still best friends. Why do you think you can be such good friends without it being weird, when most guys get bothered by that or worry about the unicorn getting a crush on them?"

Seriously, that was Brittany's question? Sam had a lot of trouble with English class, but he was pretty sure this was what Ms. Heindel meant when she talked about irony.

"I can answer that," Blaine said confidently, and Brittany turned the camera so that it was facing him. Sam was instantly relieved. Blaine would know what to say, since Blaine was charming and knew everything. "It's because we both know each other so well, and we're completely comfortable together. Little things like sexuality and who-likes-who doesn't really matter, so we can just hang out and have fun without worrying about him feeling awkward if I start talking about how hot Robert Downey Junior looked in Iron Man. Or if he gets excited and starts hugging me, I know it's just friendly, so it's not weird."

See, this was why Blaine was brilliant. None of that had actually been a lie. At least, their hugs _had_ been friendly, before last Saturday (was that seriously less that a week ago?) And they hadn't hugged since then, except for the time when Blaine talked to Kurt and Sam held him afterward, but even that had been comforting, not romantic. Blaine had been a little bit heartbroken; it wasn't like Sam would've tried to turn things steamy, even if they had spent a ridiculous amount of time lying tangled on the couch. So Blaine was telling the truth.

Also, the way Blaine talked about him kind of made Sam want to cry a little. In a good way.

"It probably has to do with how accepting Sam is," Kurt added in, probably doing his best to draw attention away from Brittany's desire to get him on camera. Or, judging by the way he smiled, maybe he just really wanted to say this. "He was the first boy I've ever met to have absolutely no problem with me being gay. Seriously, any other guy would've run away if the obviously-gay kid he'd just met tried to drag him into singing a romantic duet. Especially since he had said before that he didn't want to make himself unpopular and risk getting bullied. But I was the one who ended up telling _him_ that the song was a bad idea."

Sam blinked, surprised that Kurt even remembered that, let alone that he thought it was important enough to bring it up. It really hadn't been a big deal. Kurt wanted to sing together, Sam had no one to sing with, shazzam! It made sense. Anyone would've done it. And Sam wanted to point that out, except Lord Tubbington was eyes his leg evilly, so Sam didn't dare speak.

"That's a really nice story," Adam said, in a voice that left no doubt that he was being genuine. "If I didn't know better, I'd think I'd have something to worry about."

Kurt wrinkled his nose. "Sam? No offense, but no. Just, no." Sam had to hold back a laugh, because that was exactly how he felt about Kurt. Not that Kurt wasn't a good guy, or super attractive - he was totally both - but Sam just knew they'd make the worst couple in history. "And anyway, you'd never have anything to worry about," Kurt added, snuggling closer to Adam's chest. Santana gagged.

"I still want to hear what Sam thinks," Brittany announced. "Come on, Sam, get on screen."

"I don't think Sam wants to be on camera," Blaine said quickly. "Why don't we move on to the next question?"

"But I think this is important," Brittany insisted. "You two have the best friendship ever, except for me and Santana, and I think the viewers need to know that two people being friends doesn't depend on what kind of people they like. You can be, like, the flier boys."

"Poster boys?" Blaine corrected.

"Exactly!"

When put like that, she did sort of have a point. And considering that Sam was going to break up with her after this was over, he really didn't want to refuse to do something for her now. But at the same time, he really wasn't prepared to go on the show right now.

"Besides, he was planning on going on my episode next week, so he doesn't mind being on camera," Brittany continued. "So why not come on now? Unless there's something about the rumors that he doesn't want to talk about?" She asked it innocently, obviously not thinking it was true, but that was what made his decision. If he didn't want to be on camera, he _really_ didn't want to make Brittany – and everyone else – think that there was something going on with him and Blaine. Even though there was. Shit, his thoughts were confusing him today. He'd better just get through the interview without anything bad happening, and then he could take time to think this stuff through.

He moved around to crouch next to Blaine, since there weren't any other seats set out. "Hey, I'm Sam. And yeah, Blaine's my best bro. I don't really know what to say besides that."

"You want to sit?" Blaine asked, scooting over in his seat. Sam sat next to him, even though both of their butts were half falling off the chair. At least it gave them an excuse to have their legs really close together without it being weird. And Sam was enjoying that way more than he'd ever admit.

"So, how did you two become best friends?" Brittany asked.

Sam relaxed a little. That was an easy one. "We just did. I told him I wanted to run with him as his vice president of McKinley, and he said sure, and we started talking about stuff and then we were hanging out all the time." Sam left out the part about how Blaine had kind of looked like a kicked puppy after Kurt left, and since Sam was lonely thanks to all his bros going away, he figured they could cheer each other up. That wasn't the sort of thing he'd say with Kurt sitting right there.

"Are you just friends, or are you doing guy-kisses?" Brittany asked. "Because I know Sam doesn't like guys, but Kurt doesn't like girls and he still kissed me, and I figured I should ask." She sounded surprisingly fine with the idea. Wait, hadn't she said something to Artie two years ago about how she wasn't cheating on him by kissing Santana because they had different plumbing? Of course she would still believe that – it took Brittany an incredibly long time to change her mind about anything. Dang, if he'd just remembered that sooner, it would've made things a lot easier.

Okay, maybe not. Because even if she'd be okay with him kissing Blaine, it was still cheating to Sam, so he'd feel just as guilty no matter what she said. And it wouldn't change the fact that she wanted to date him, and he wanted to break up with her. The pain would still be there even if she didn't care who he'd kissed. Still, maybe they could have factored that into their plans somehow.

Sam realized that he still needed to answer the question.

"No, of course not! That's crazy," Blaine said, his response coming far too late and far too fast to be convincing.

Sam jumped in, trying to help out. "Yeah, we're just bros. That means that we get to, like, high five and hug all the time, but we're not dating or kissing or anything." As soon as he finished talking, he was pretty sure he'd made it worse.

Thankfully, Kurt decided to help them out. "Trust me, the worst thing you can ever do is try to go after a straight guy. Been there, done that, been horribly embarrassed by it. If someone isn't interested, just back off. Believe me, if seduction and stubbornness were enough to turn someone gay, I'd be sitting here with a completely different guy on my arm." He turned to Adam. "A guy that I'm completely uninterested in now, and would never date even if some mystical Cupid threatened to stab me if we didn't get together."

Adam chuckled. "You're going to have to tell me that story later," he said.

Kurt smiled. "Maybe."

It worked. The attention was completely turned away from them. Brittany asked some more questions about Santana's booty call, as she called it. Apparently the girl was blonde and they'd been having sex (Sam refuses to repeat the actual word Santana had used to describe it) since sometime in February. But other than that, she refused to give any details.

"And that's all the time we have on Fondue for Two," Brittany said. Sam nearly collapsed out of happiness. "Come back next week, where Sam is going to see how many Oreos he can fit in his mouth at one time. Leave a comment with your guess and whoever comes closest will get a CD singed by Lord Tubbington with all of his favorite songs sung by me and Santana. He'll be doing the backup vocals. Also, Sam and I might make out on camera, because I got an anonymous comment asking for that."

Yeah, Sam was definitely going to tell her that he couldn't be on her show, after all. Even though the Oreo thing sounded awesome.

Brittany turned off the camera. "I think this was my best show ever! Did you all enjoy it."

"Of course," Blaine said, obviously lying. Sam tried to make his grimace look like a smile.

Brittany moved over toward the other laptop and knelt in front of it, asking Santana about exactly what songs they were going to record for this CD. Sam took the opportunity to lean closer to Blaine. "How bad do you think that was?"

Blaine hesitated, biting his lip, then said, "Not bad."

"Liar," Sam said, glancing at Brittany to make sure she still wasn't paying attention. She wasn't. "We basically made it obvious that there's something going on."

Blaine nodded, but said, "At least we didn't confirm it. And by the sounds of it, there were already rumors about us dating, so this shouldn't make any difference. There might be a few people who see it and give us weird looks on Monday, but we just have to act like it isn't true and they'll forget about it."

"Okay," Sam said. He wasn't really sure that Blaine was right – but then, there wasn't any point worrying about it right now, because it wouldn't change anything and Sam didn't want to spend the whole weekend worried. Besides, the show had gotten some popularity right after Brittany had first started, but by now, interest had died to the point where hardly anyone at McKinley watched it. Besides the glee club, of course, but he and Blaine could handle whatever it was the club thought. They were a family, so whatever they said wouldn't be bad.

"Bye!" Brittany said, then kissed the screen with a loud smacking sound. A second later, the others logged off.

"Well, I should get going," Blaine said, giving Sam a look that was obviously ordering Sam to just break up and not wimp out (though Blaine would've phrased it nicer, because that was the kind of guy he was). "I'm heading to the park. You can meet me there when you're done and I'll give you a ride home."

"You don't have to wait for him," Brittany said. "We're going to be a while."

Blaine nodded but didn't say anything, and Sam knew that he would be waiting at the park, anyway. "See you Brittany, Sam," he said, giving a little wave, then walked out the door. Leaving the two of them alone.

He turned to Brittany, looking for words that didn't want to come. He'd never broken up with a girl before. Come to think of it, he hadn't been broken up with by a girl, either. Quinn had cheated, which had basically destroyed things without the need for a break-up talk. Mercedes had never really dated him for real. And he honestly had no idea how exactly things had ended with Santana, except that at some point they'd stopped kissing. There had also been that girl he'd met in Kentucky. She'd sent him a text saying that she didn't think that long distance was a good idea, and he'd been too happy about going back to McKinley and getting away from the stripper life that he had barely cared. None of which prepared him for this.

"So, what did you want to see me about today?" he asked, which might have been a pathetic way to begin, but he couldn't think of anything better.

She didn't answer.

Instead, she just kissed him.

It was such a surprise that it took him a minute to process that yeah, her lips were moving over his and their chests were pressed together and her boobs were against his skin with nothing but their shirts between them. It wasn't anything he hadn't felt before, and he liked cuddling with Blaine better, but it was still a kiss, and it still felt kind of awesome.

Blaine, he repeated to himself. Blaine, not Brittany. He pulled back. "What are you doing?"

She blinked at him innocently. "We haven't kissed all week. I miss you," she said, putting her hands on his shoulders and sitting him down on the bed. "Can we keep doing this?" Brittany asked, shuffling closer to him, her voice shy in a way that he'd never heard before. She didn't usually ask before she started kissing or doing other things. She just did them, knowing that Sam would be fine with it, because she was really, really good at that kind of stuff. It must have been all the experience with Santana, though he'd tried not to think about that too much.

Now, though, he slid away slightly. Enough to send a message, but hopefully not enough to hurt her feelings, because he didn't want to do that any more than he had to. "I don't really want to kiss."

"Why not?" she asked quietly, her hand moving down his chest in a way that made him shiver. Not because he liked her, just because he was a teenage boy and she really knew what she was doing and every single touch from her was sexy as hell. It didn't mean he still wanted to date her, because he knew better than to just base a relationship on the physical stuff. Plus the thought of having the physical stuff with Blaine was... He had to stop then, because his thoughts were going to bad places, and he had to focus on Brittany now.

"I really like kissing you," she said quietly. "You have the softest mouth ever, even softer than Kurt's. And then you stop the kiss to do an impression to make me laugh, and kissing is even more fun when I'm giggly. I really like you, Sam."

"I know," he said. "And I really like you, too, Brittany. But-"

"It's okay," Brittany said quickly. "Do your lips still hurt like they did Monday? Because then I really understand why you don't want to kiss. We can watch a movie instead." He started to say something – he wasn't sure what, but hopefully it wouldn't be something that would make things work – but she jumped to her feet and wagged her finger firmly at him. "Wait here," she said, and ran over to root through her cabinet.

Sam watched her silently, curious about what she had planned, even though he knew it would be smartest to cut her off before she went any further. He really was going to. Seriously. But before he got the chance, she had already sat down next to him again. "You really like that movie with the blue people, so I got you this one, since it looks like the same thing," she said, holding a DVD towards him.

He glanced down to see what it was. The Smurfs. A smile pulled at the corner of his mouth despite himself. Okay, so an animated movie about little blue people didn't have anything to do with the awesomeness that was Avatar, but the gesture has incredibly sweet. Then his smile fell away, because she had done this for him, and he felt like even more of a jerk.

"Thank you," he said softly. It would be rude not to.

"You're welcome," she said, her expression brightening as she realized he liked the gift. "We can watch it and lie on my bed and cuddle, and I won't try to lick your tongue no matter how good it tastes."

He set the DVD on the table. "I don't think that's a good idea," he said. "I need to talk to you about something."

"Okay," she said, her face rearranging into a confused and worried expression. She slid closer to him until she was practically on his lap, her arms coming up to wind around his shoulders. "But if we're going to talk, I still at least want to get my Sam cuddles. Can we talk like this?"

"I, uh," he stammered, then made a decision. His own arms wrapped around her waist protectively. "Yeah, we can."

It would be weird to break up with her while they held each other, but if that was what she wanted, then that's what he'd do. Maybe it would make it easier. Or maybe she'd regret holding him the moment he said what he wanted, but he was hoping it would be the first one.

"What do you want to say?" Brittany murmured.

He took a deep breath, two voices fighting in his mind. The first one said that she was so sweet and innocent and utterly Brittany that there was no way he could do this to her. The second was whispering about Blaine, and how he would be heartbroken if Sam didn't say something now. Blaine would take it as a sign that Sam didn't actually want him, which would be so far from the truth, but this time Sam wouldn't be able to reassure him with just simple words like he had during the car ride on Monday. This time, the cut would go super deep, and Sam didn't have any idea what he could do to make it better if that happened. But then, the first voice whispered, he didn't know how to make Brittany feel better, either. Santana didn't want to date her anymore. Brittany would be left alone.

It was Blaine or Brittany. Sam had to decide which one he wanted to protect the most, and that said a lot about who he should be dating, didn't it?

"I think we should break up," he said quietly.

There. It was done, and no going back. Well, he could probably tell Brittany that he was joking or that he was talking about something completely different, and she'd believe him. But he wasn't going to do that.

"What?" She pulled back to look at him. He could see in her eyes that she didn't quite understand.

God, he had to tell her a second time. This wasn't going to be easy. But then, he kind of deserved to have a hard time after he'd spent so long refusing to do it. "I don't think we should date anymore," he said, phrasing it in a way that left no room for doubt or misunderstanding.

She blinked fast, a look of dawning understanding coming over her face as it sunk in. She sniffed, tears forming in her eyes even if they didn't fall. He wasn't sure if he could deal with this. What he really wanted was to get up and run out of the room so that he wouldn't have to see the consequences, but there was no way he could do that. He was stuck here until the end, whether he wanted to be or not. He owed Brittany that much.

"Why?" she asked quietly, her arms tightening around him. "Do you not like me any more?"

His throat suddenly felt tight, like he was the one holding off tears. But that didn't make sense, because he was the one doing this, so he didn't have the right to cry. "No, that's definitely not it. You're still the best girl I know. I... just don't think it's going to work."

She leaned her head on his shoulder. "Do you like someone else more?"

He only hesitated for a moment before shaking his head. He wasn't quite sure what his motive was. Part of it was definitely that he didn't want to rub it in her face, make her think that she wasn't good enough. Telling her about Blaine right now would just be cruel. The rest of it was because he just didn't want to tell her about Blaine, period. Thing was, he didn't know how big the two parts were, or which was influencing his decision the most.

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"I'm sure." He felt sick. "Are you okay?"

"I don't know," she whispered. "It really hurt when Artie called me stupid, and when Santana broke up with me, but this feels different. Why does it feel different?"

"Maybe because it is," Sam said, instinctively rubbing circles on her back. Which wasn't the kind of thing he should be doing with his ex, but Brittany was upset, and there was absolutely no way he was going to sit there without comforting her. And since his words didn't seem like enough, touch would have to do. "Those situations were nothing like this one. I'm not saying they hurt any more or less. They just hurt differently."

By now, the shoulder of his shirt was damp. He tried not to think about how it was because of Brittany's tears. "What do we do now?"

That was a good question. Sam pondered it a minute before he answered. "I guess I leave, and you can call Santana to comfort you if you want." And Blaine would comfort him, but Sam didn't mention that part. "Then we'll see each other on Monday. You can decide whether you want to talk to me or if you'd rather pretend I don't exist. Either way, we won't hold hands or kiss or sing together in glee anymore."

Something about that last sentence felt wrong. It was true; they wouldn't do those things now that they weren't dating. But he didn't like the way it sounded. Like that was all that their relationship had been, cut down to three things that wouldn't happen anymore. But he knew it was more than that. He'd kissed plenty of people before, he could hold hands with any of his friends, and he bet he could even convince any of the glee club members to sing with him, even if it was a love song. But those three actions didn't add up to the relationship he'd had with Brittany. There had been more to it than just the kissing and romantic dates. If there hadn't been, then this wouldn't have hurt so much.

"Can you hold me first?" Brittany asked.

He choked back his tears. "Of course I can."

That's what he did, as the minutes ticked away and his shirt grew steadily wetter. He knew he couldn't hold Brittany forever, or even comfort her until she didn't need any better. So he decided right then that he would hug her until she was ready to let go, and that was when he would walk away. But until then, he was going to stay here and hope he could make it better, even if he knew he couldn't.

* * *

Blaine had been sitting in his car staring at the park for thirty-four minutes now. Not that he'd been counting. Of course not. But he was starting to worry that Sam hadn't been able to do it, and he and Brittany were off cuddling or worse right now. Blaine didn't know what he would do. It wouldn't be enough to make him not want to date Sam, but it would hurt. A lot. And honestly, Blaine wasn't sure how he'd be able to handle that.

He was just thinking of calling Sam to check up when the passenger door suddenly opened. "Well, I'm single," Sam said with a bright smile that was obviously fake, considering how pained his eyes looked.

"Come here," Blaine said. Sam slid closer, and Blaine pulled him into the tightest hug he could. "Want to talk?"

"No," Sam said. "It had to be done. I just really hate hurting her and wish I could forget that I made her cry."

Blaine eyes the empty playground and nodded. "Come with me, then," he said, and slid out of the car. Sam looked confused, but didn't hesitate to grab Blaine's hand and follow him.

"What are we doing?" Sam asked.

Blaine nudged him toward the swing set. "Sit down," he said gently. "You wanted a distraction, and I'm giving you one." A small hint of a genuine smile began on Sam's face as he obeyed, and Blaine moved around behind him. "Don't you dare pump your legs. I want to see how high I can push you."

"There's no way you'll get me that high," Sam protested, though he obediently stayed still while Blaine pushed against his shoulder blades. "See?" he said when he didn't move all that much. "I'm too heavy, dude."

"Just give me a minute," Blaine said, giving another push. "It takes a while to get the momentum going."

After a few minutes, it looked like they were both going to be right. Blaine actually managed to push Sam pretty high, much to his own surprise (not that he'd say that out loud), but it definitely wasn't as high as Sam could have gotten on his own.

"Come join me," Sam said, reaching over to grab onto the swing next to him as he passed it. Blaine smiled and climbed on, pumping his legs to try to catch up to Sam.

They sat in silence for several minutes. Blaine didn't push for conversation. Sam looked like he was thinking hard about something, and whatever it was, he'd say it when he was ready.

"Brittany kissed me," Sam suddenly said after about five minutes. "And I feel kind of weird about that."

Blaine frowned. "What do you mean?"

Sam shifted, looking uncomfortable. "She kissed me," he repeated, like that explained everything. "And I sort of liked it. It felt good, okay? And I shouldn't feel like that if I'm going to be dating you soon."

"Did you kiss her back?" Blaine asked.

"No!" Sam said quickly. "Well, I kind of stood there for a moment not sure what to do, which was when I realized that I liked it, but I pulled back right away and told her I didn't want to."

"Then it isn't a problem," Blaine said, and was surprised that he meant it. Okay, he still felt a little jealous at the thought, but it was just a spark. He crushed it quickly and smiled at Sam. "Kissing feels good. That's how it's designed. But thanks for not kissing her back." For some reason, Blaine was getting all silly and happy thinking about that, which wasn't a good thing when he was supposed to focus on comforting Sam. But he couldn't help it. It kind of made it sink in that Sam had chosen him over Brittany. Sam could have kissed her and then broken up with her (which he wouldn't have done, because he was way too nice for that, but it had still been an option). And he could have hidden the kiss from Blaine and Blaine most likely wouldn't have found out. But he didn't. He really was telling Blaine everything, like they'd agreed.

It was mean spirited to feel happy that he'd won against Brittany, especially since this wasn't a contest. But that didn't stop him from feeling it. He just wouldn't say it out loud.

"Thanks," Sam said. "For the record, I want to kiss you way more than I want to kiss Brittany."

"Then why don't you?"

It slipped out before Blaine could stop himself. Instantly he clamped a hand over his mouth, trying too late to hold it back. They'd already decided to wait until Regionals, and Sam had just ended things with Brittany. He wouldn't-

"You want to?" Sam asked quietly.

Blaine swallowed. "Yeah," he said. So much.

Sam scrapped his feet through the wood chips, slowing down his swing until it was barely swaying. Blaine did the same. Sam was looking straight at him. If they both leaned across the gap, their lips would be close enough to touch. "Should we?"

"Yeah," Blaine whispered.

They both moved forward slowly. Blaine let go of the swing with one hand to reach across and cup Sam's face, tangling the tips of his fingers in Sam's hair. Sam was only a breath away, and about to close the distance. Then he stopped. "Wait."

Blaine moved back an inch, just enough that he could see Sam's face easier. "What?"

"I don't think this should be our first kiss."

"We already kissed last Saturday," Blaine pointed out.

"Yeah, but," Sam trailed off, looking like he was frustrated. "It makes sense in my head, but I don't know how to explain it. It's like, last weekend we were just friends who kissed and weren't ready to be anything more. But now we have these plans to date. So when we kiss again, it's going to be our first kiss as boyfriends, and I want it to be perfect. Except that that doesn't make sense, because we're not dating. So even if we did kiss, it'd just be our second time kissing as bros, not our first time as boyfriends. But it still doesn't feel right, you know? Especially since we agreed to wait for two more weeks."

"It's okay, I get it," Blaine said, sitting back. And he actually did, mostly. "You're right. We really should wait. But you do realize how impossible that's going to be?"

"Oh, yeah," Sam said, giving Blaine a look that made him blush. "I really do want to kiss you. But when we get out first-kiss thing, it's going to be when we're actually dating, and I am going to make it super romantic."

"Yeah?" Blaine asked with a grin.

"Yeah," Sam agreed. "Because you're worth the best."

Blaine's smile widened, and he sat back, idly noticing that he and Sam were swinging perfectly in sync. "You remember elementary school?" he asked suddenly, motioning at the two of them. "When people swung the exact same way like this, we used to say they were married."

Sam snorted and returned his grin. "Really? At my school we said that they were in the same shower," he said. "I don't know which of those options I like better. They both have their good points."

Blaine held out his hand for Sam to take again. "Want to say we're both?" he asked. "As long as we're reverting into elementary students with overactive imaginations?"

Sam intertwined their fingers and gave Blaine's hand a squeeze. "Sounds perfect."

They stayed like that for a while, sometimes talking about unimportant things, other times staying silent, swinging in sync the whole time. Finally, Sam said, "We should get going, shouldn't we?"

"I guess," Blaine said, standing. He quickly took advantage of the face that Sam was still sitting, making Blaine the taller one for once, and kissed Sam on the top of his head. "You sure you don't want to talk about Brittany?"

"I'm good for now," Sam said.

For now, Blaine repeated mentally. Meaning that it would probably start bothering him later. Oh, well. Whenever Sam was ready to talk, Blaine would always be there.


	11. Chapter 11

**Tuuzmorado has been awesome as always. Thanks again for being my fabulous beta!**

* * *

The ringing phone woke Blaine on Monday morning. He groaned and reached for his phone, nearly knocking it off the table before he managed to grab it. "Hello?"

"Hey," Sam said. "Did you get Mr. Schue's text?"

"What?" In his half-asleep state, it took Blaine a minute to understand what Sam was saying. When he finally got it, he moved his phone from his ear and squinted at it, trying to block his eyes from the light as he checked his missed text. Like Sam had said, there was one from Mr. Schue. *Glee has been rescheduled to accommodate Brittany, Blaine, and Kitty's new Cheerio schedule. Please meet in the choir room at seven o'clock Monday morning.

"What new Cheerio schedule?" he asked, rubbing one of his eyes and wondering what the heck Sue was up to.

"I don't know, but you might want to check the time," Sam said. Blaine rolled over to look at his alarm clock. Six fifty.

Shit.

"I'll be there as soon as I can," he said as he rolled out of bed, hanging up without another word. His limbs felt heavy, like he hadn't gotten even close to enough sleep, but he rushed around as fast as he could, trying to get ready.

The one good thing about the Cheerio uniform was that he didn't have to decide what to wear. That made it significantly easier to get ready, and by six fifty-five he was running to the car, a granola bar in his hand and his ungelled hair bouncing as he moved.

The moment he pulled into Sam's apartment complex he was sliding over to the passenger side, motioning for Sam to go to the driver's side. "You drive today."

"Uh, okay," Sam said, looking slightly confused. Then his eyes brightened, and he grinned. "Dude, your hair is awesome. Does it stick up like that on its own?"

"Unfortunately." Blaine pulled his emergency gel and a comb out of his bag and flipped down the visor on his side of the car so he could use the mirror on the underside.

"Wait, you carry hair gel in your bag?" Sam asked, sounding amused. Clearly he didn't understand the true horror of Blaine's untamed hair, even though he'd seen it for himself. "Plus the stash I know you have in your gym locker. No offense, but I think you have a problem."

"I do have a problem. That's why I need all the gel," he mumbled, smoothing down his hair with the comb and smearing a handful of gel on it.

"Oh, come on, it's adorable," Sam said, reaching over to ruffle Blaine's hair in a way he'd been warned never to do. Blaine slapped his hand away and quickly tried to reverse the damage. "I don't see why you have to carry a bottle with you."

"It's for slushy attacks," Blaine said as he squeezed the bottle, trying to force as much out of it as possible. He always tried to get the slush off without ruining his hair, but it rarely worked. At the least, he'd have to do touch ups afterward. "I haven't had to use it much this year." Which was a good thing overall, but it did mean that he'd somehow not noticed that the gel was running out. He managed to squeeze another glob onto his hand and hoped he'd have enough.

By the time they got to school, every drop of gel in the bottle was on his head, and his hair was just barely under control. He rubbed it nervously as they walked inside. With any luck, it would hold until he got home. And if he really needed to, then he could always duck into the locker room to get his gel from his gym locker. Still, it felt weird to not wear as much as usual. Like he was naked, almost.

"Relax," Sam said, catching Blaine's wrist and lowering his hand away from his hair. "You look great. Stop worrying."

Sam dropped his wrist as the two of them entered the choir room. Blaine really hoped that he wasn't blushing.

Marley and Unique were singing as they entered. Blaine glanced back at Sam before moving along the wall, trying to get to the back row without attracting attention. A few people looked their way, but most of them kept watching the performance, thankfully.

The song ended, and Blaine clapped as enthusiastically as the others, even though he'd only heard the last chorus. Mr. Schue stood and took the floor as the girls sat down. "Nice of you two to join us," he said, looking toward Sam and Blaine.

"Sorry," Blaine said, ducking his head slightly. "I didn't get the message until Sam called and woke me up."

Mr. Schue smiled and waved away Blaine's apologies. "That's fine. So here's what you missed in Glee. I gave the theme of the week." He gestured toward the board. This time, there were two words written on it, one above the other. AUDITIONS and INSPIRATION. "You can audition on your own, or with as many people as you want. The song should be something that inspires you. Auditions will be Wednesday during lunch, and we're having rehearsals Wednesday and Friday before school. Any questions?"

"No," Sam said, and Blaine shook his head, though the new schedule confused him a little. Why weren't they meeting after school, like normal?"

"Sounds good," Mr. Schue said as the bell rang. "You should all hurry to class," he said, unnecessarily, as the entire club was already rising to go.

Blaine caught Kitty's arm on the way out. "Why aren't we meeting after school at all this week?"

She rolled her eyes and smirked. "Sue's increased practices. We're going from three to eight every day. Thank God the competition is this weekend, so we only have to do that for a week. Any longer and we'd die. But the more important question is, why were you and Sam both late, and you walk in with that stuff on your head actually somewhat resembling messy hair. Want to tell me what you were up to?"

Blaine grabbed his hair, too concerned about the "messy" comment to even care what she was implying. Sam snickered behind him until Blaine turned and shot him a glare.

"Oh, calm down," Kitty said. "So your hair isn't actually made out of stone. Get over it. And you're going to mess it up worse if you keep rubbing it."

Blaine reluctantly dropped his hands. Sam reached forward and squeezed Blaine's shoulder quickly. "Want to audition together?" Sam asked, in a voice that made it clear he was trying to provide a distraction.

It worked. Blaine grinned and nodded, momentarily forgetting his fear that his hair could break free any second. "I'll call you tonight to talk song ideas, and we can practice at lunch tomorrow?" There wouldn't be any other time to rehearse, thanks to Sue's new crazy schedule. He groaned. "Oh, and I won't be able to go to any of my other clubs this week." Dang. The monthly Zombie Survival Club meeting was this Wednesday, and he'd been really looking forward to this one.

"Hey, since you'll be rehearsing all afternoon, can I borrow your car to drive to work?" Sam asked. "Burt needs me tonight and it'll be much easier than walking."

"Sure." Blaine pulled out his keys and tossed them to Sam. "Just make sure you come back and pick me up after practice gets out."

"Of course," Sam said, stuffing the keys into his pocket. He walked off toward his first class, waving over his shoulder. "Hey, want to meet in the choir room at lunch to talk songs instead of waiting until tonight? That will give us more time to get ready?"

"Sure," Blaine called back. Sam grinned and shot him a thumbs up, then turned to go. Blaine stopped walking to watch him leave, even though it made about five different kids bump into him.

Kitty laughed. "You've got it bad."

"I don't know what you mean," he said instinctively, even though she already knew about him and Sam.

His denial must have amused her, because she smirked. "Sure you don't," she said. She grabbed the strap of his bag and yanked him in the opposite direction, toward both of their classrooms. "Come on. Let's just get you to science before you start to drool."

* * *

"Have you noticed that people are staring at us?" Sam asked as he entered the empty science room. He and Blaine had agreed to meet there to discuss songs after they learned that the choir room had already been claimed by Marley and Unique, and Tina had taken over the auditorium. Blaine was already there, sitting cross-legged on one of the desks with his lunch tray balanced on his knees.

"Not really," Blaine said with a shrug. "What do you mean staring?"

Sam couldn't help but smile a little as he slid into the chair next to Blaine's desk, setting his own tray down in front of him. Of course Blaine hadn't noticed anything. A giant pink elephant could probably prance through the school and Blaine still wouldn't see a thing. "I don't really know what I mean," Sam admitted. "It's like people keep giving us weird looks and glancing in our direction. I can't really see them but I know they're doing it."

"Are you sure they're really staring?" Blaine asked through a bite of his pizza. "Why would they?"

"Fondue for Two," Sam said at once. He'd been running scenarios in his head all morning (even though he should have been thinking of song ideas), and it was the only explanation that makes sense. "They saw us slip up during the interview and now they think we're kissing and I bet you anything that they're just waiting to see if we make out in the hallway or something."

Blaine snorted. "Nobody watches Brittany's show," he reminded Sam. Not in a mean way, just like he was stating a fact. "I mean, the New Directions do. But they wouldn't pass it around for the rest of the school to gossip about. And anyway, if they did think we were secretly dating or something, wouldn't they ask us about it? I mean, I was talking to Tina earlier and she sounded completely normal."

Which was a good thing, because Sam knew that Tina watched every single episode. So if she hadn't noticed anything weird about their response to Brittany's question about whether or not Blaine and Sam were kissing, then it was likely that nobody had. Then again, Blaine didn't always notice if things were normal or not. "What exactly did she say?"

Blaine frowned as she tried to remember. "She asked why we were late, and I told her I overslept and didn't even notice the time until you woke me up. She just nodded and asked if I wanted to audition with her, or if I was already doing something with you. I said we were auditioning, and that was it."

"Okay," Sam said, trying to think of whether any of what Blaine said could be taken the wrong way. The last thing he wanted was to feed the rumor mill. Well, there was that one thing about Sam waking Blaine up this morning... but they'd know that he meant a phone call. "So, was she mad that you weren't auditioning with her?"

"Oh, yeah," Blaine said with a small groan. "I'll find her later to make up for it. I'd offer to have the three of us sing together, but I kind of want to sing a duet with you at Regionals."

Sam grinned at the thought. "It'll be romantic, wouldn't it?" he said. "Especially since that's the day that we're going to start dating."

"Which is why we need to figure out the best song to make sure we get it," Blaine said, then launched into a rant about the pros and cons of every Katy Perry song ever written. Sam leaned forward and nodded, smiling at the excitement in Blaine's voice, even though Katy Perry wasn't really his thing.

By the time lunch was over, they still hadn't decided on a song, mostly because after five minutes they'd switched to trying to decide what was the absolute worst song they could possibly sing. But they did succeed in distracting Sam from all the stares. At least, it worked until he got to his last class and immediately felt about ten pairs of eyes burning into the back of his head.

He shifted in his seat telling himself that it was just his imagination. That he was being paranoid, and Blaine was right, nobody had seen the video or thought anything about how suspicious they'd acted about the kissing talk. Still, he was glad when the day was over, and he didn't waste any time before rushing to Blaine's car and driving to Burt's garage.

The first few hours of work were pretty busy, though Sam wasn't much help. Burt had taught him to do a few of the simpler tasks, but he couldn't do any major work on the cars and was hopeless at paperwork. Mostly he just unpacked boxes and cleaned, which Burt claimed was really important, though Sam knew that it didn't take nearly as many hours as Burt insisted on giving him. Sam wasn't going to complain, though, even if he felt weird about accepting the help. He really did need the extra money, and he repayed Burt as best he could by cleaning the place spotless every day.

After the first three hours or so, the place quieted down. Burt wiped the grease from his hands and asked, "How are you doing, Sam? Still liking your apartment?"

"Yeah, it's great," Sam said quickly, like he always did. He knew Burt would let him move back in to the Hummel house in a heartbeat - in face, he was pretty sure that Burt and Carole missed having their sons around so much that the entire glee club could have moved in and they would've been thrilled. But Sam kind of liked living on his own and being independent. Even if it did get lonely sometime.

Burt nodded and smiled. "Glee club going good?"

"Yeah," Sam said. "You should probably take a break." The doctors hadn't technically cleared Burt to return to work after his last treatment, not that that ever stopped him. Everyone knew that Burt loved the garage too much to ever give it up, which was why they let him get away with coming in for a while. But Sam had still made it his personal mission to make sure that Burt didn't exhaust himself.

"I will, I will," Burt grumbled, taking a seat in one of the chairs along the edge of the room. Sam went over to sit next to him, abandoning the mopping he'd been doing - it wasn't really necessary, anyway, considering Sam had just cleaned it yesterday. He'd mostly been looking for something to do until his shift was over, and talking to Burt looked like a lot more fun. "So, Glee is good. You still see Blaine a lot?"

Sam got the feeling that this was what Burt had been leading up to all along. Not that Burt didn't care about Sam's life, but they saw each other tons of times, and Blaine hadn't been over to the Hummel's (or the garage) since Christmas. "Yeah, he's my best friend. We're planning on auditioning for a song together for Regionals."

Burt nodded, a small smile playing on his lips. "I bet you'll get it," he said, then turned serious. "Listen, Sam, would you tell me if he needs anything? I know it's probably weird to ask, since he and Kurt are broken up now, and Kurt seems to think that it's over for good. Personally, I say never say never, but even if they don't find their way back to each other, I consider him like my own son and want to know what's going on with him."

"I get it," Sam said, though he felt a little weird about hearing Burt say that he expected Kurt and Blaine to get back together. He tried to keep that from showing on his face, though. "I'll try to get him to come over sometime. Maybe he can come to work with me someday. Just not this week, because Cheerio rehearsals are kind of crazy."

"Cheerio?" Burt asked with a chuckle. "Should have known he'd join the squad eventually. Kurt did the same thing when he was a sophomore. Tell him good luck from me, okay?"

"Will do," Sam said. Which reminded him, he'd only have an hour and a half after work was done before he picked up Blaine. First he had to go home and shower, then run to the grocery store, which should barely give him enough time to get there. He just hoped that the lines weren't long, because he really didn't want to make Blaine wait...

Burt waved one hand in front of Sam's face. "You still there?"

"Huh? Yeah," Sam said. "Sorry, just thinking of everything I have to do tonight." Thankfully that didn't involve homework, since his teachers were being nice lately and he had a study hall.

"Why don't you get going?" Burt said. "I know it's a half hour early, but you did good enough work today that I'll pay you for the full time."

"Oh, no way, I couldn't," Sam said. Especially since he knew Burt was lying, and he hadn't actually gotten much done at all. Besides the super-easy manual labor that hadn't taken up nearly the full time.

"It's either that or sit here wasting time talking to me," Burt said. "And no offense, but I've got a newspaper that I'd be just as happy to spend the time with."

Sam bit his lip. Burt made offers like these all the time, and Sam really didn't feel comfortable taking them. If he was going to get payed, he wanted to at least do enough odd jobs to pretend like he earned it. Then again, he wanted to make sure he had time to grab everything he needed from the store and still get to Blaine on time. "Thanks," Sam finally said, heading over to put away the mop he'd been using earlier. "I'll work free overtime next week to make up for it."

"Okay," Burt agreed, though they both knew that he'd never actually let it happen.

Sam hurried home and jumped into the shower as quickly as possible. As soon as it was done, he drove to the nearest grocery store, then the nearest Subway to grab Blaine a sandwich, since he doubted Sue would give them time to eat (plus one for himself, since he'd kind of skipped dinner, too). Thanks to Burt letting him out early, Sam ended up with plenty of time to get there, and ended up sitting in the parking lot by seven fifty.

There wasn't really any point waiting around out there, so he got out and slipped into the auditorium as stealthily as possible, hanging back in the corner by the boys' locker room. He had no idea what Sue would do if she found him hiding here, and didn't really want to find out. But the idea of seeing Blaine doing his Cheerio routine again was too exciting to pass up.

"Come on, babies! I've seen worms with more sex appeal than you!" Sue screamed into her bullhorn as the Cheerios spun around and shook their hips. Quite frankly, Sam had to disagree; the routine might even be hotter than the one Blaine, Kitty, and Brittany had performed last week. At least, it would be if he could find Blaine. There were only, like, five guys on the squad. Blaine should stick out easily.

"From the top!" Sue shouted, and everyone scrambled to rearrange themselves in a giant mob in the center of the floor. After a moment, the music started. Two beats, and then everyone spun and flipped backwards, spreading out like waves. The only one who didn't move was Blaine, standing in the center of the mass with his arms up, his back to the audience, and his uniform way too tight to be legal - especially when it was sticking to his body with sweat.

Oh yeah, Sam definitely liked this routine.

Blaine looked like he was in his element, dancing around with endless energy (how did he have so much after such a long rehearsal?) He was singing the entire time, though he never seemed to run out of breath for the long, drawn-out notes. It was official. Sam was in love with the most talented guy alive.

"Little Gay Anderson, are you trying to make us lose the competition?" Sue demanded. "Hot the showers, all of you. And if I don't see better work out of all of you, I'm scrapping this routine and you will not sleep until you learn the new one to perfection."

Sam groaned along with everyone else, because he could seriously see Sue doing that, as stupid as it would be. And he didn't want Blaine to get stuck suffering through that sort of craziness.

The guys were headed in his direction. Sam quickly ducked behind some boxes of old sport equipment that were stacked in the corner before they could see him. Not even Blaine seemed to notice him, though that could be because they all looked like they were sleepwalking. As soon as they went inside, Sam settled himself down for a long wait.

About twenty minutes passed. The rest of the boys came out of the locker room one by one, until Sam was sure Blaine was the only one left in there (he'd counted). Sam waited an extra five minutes, and when Blaine still hadn't come out, Sam headed in to find him.

"Blaine?" Sam called, to give him warning so he could pull some pants on or something if he needed to.

Blaine was leaning on the lockers, fully dressed except for his jacket, his hair wet and sticking up in a dozen different directions. He had changed out of his uniform, and was in a T shirt and sweats, which was much more casual than Sam could ever remember seeing him, ever. His eyes were closed like he was sleeping standing up. Sam gently shook his arm, partly worried by how tired Blaine looked, and partly impressed that it hadn't shown at all in his routine. This boy was a professional. "Come on, you should get home."

Blaine blinked one eye open. "Sam? When did you get here?"

"Just in time to watch the last run through of your routine," Sam said, grabbing Blaine's jacket off the bench and helping him slide it on. "Sue must be even crazier than normal today, because you guys were hot."

Blaine smiled. "Thanks," he said, the word muffled by a face-splitting yawn.

"You look exhausted," Sam said, like that wasn't already obvious. He grabbed Blaine's bag and slung it over his shoulder (no way was he about to make Blaine carry it), then wrapped an arm around Blaine's waist to hold him up. "Seriously, you okay?"

"Yeah," Blaine said, leaning against Sam as they walked. Sam tried to ignore the feelings shooting through his body whenever Blaine's side rubbed up against his chest. "It was just a long day. And I might have been up late last night practicing the routine so that she wouldn't get mad at me. Not that that worked."

"She's crazy, remember?" Sam asked, holding open the door and leading him outside. "You better get some sleep as soon as you get home."

Blaine shook his head. "I've got a history paper."

"Do it tomorrow," Sam said. "Or any other time but tonight. Seriously, you're going to kill yourself."

"'Kay," Blaine muttered, apparently too tired to argue. Sam made a mental note to get back to work on their plan to take Sue down as soon as possible. Because no way she should be working them so hard.

"Here," Sam said, opening the passenger door for Blaine and helping him inside. He handed over the Subway bag, and the stuff he'd bought from the store. "I got you dinner. There's some water and Gatorade in the bag that you'd better drink. And a cookie, because I figured you could use one after such a long practice."

Blaine blinked, clearly surprised, and pulled the four different Gatorades out of the bag. (Sam hadn't been sure which one Blaine liked best, so he'd gotten a bunch and figured that Blaine could take whichever he wanted.) "You didn't have to do this," he said.

Sam just rolled his eyes and shut the door, heading around to climb into the driver's seat. He wasn't even going to respond to that, because if Blaine really thought that, then he was being stupid.

Blaine was already ripping into his sandwich by the time Sam got the car started. "God, I was so starving," he muttered around a mouthful, the swallowed and said, "Thanks, Sam."

"No problem," Sam said. Secretly, he was thrilled that he'd remembered to do this. Like he was the awesomest person ever for making Blaine happy like that. "So, got any song ideas."

"I've got one I really like," Blaine said. He ate another giant bite before continuing. "What do you think of Taylor Swift?"

Sam frowned. Normally, anything country was his thing. But he liked the real, emotional country stuff, not her girly version. "I... guess I could be convinced," he finally said. "You're going to have to teach me the song, since I doubt I know it."

"I can do that," Blaine said. "Do you think you could learn to play it on guitar by our audition?"

Sam thought for a minute. "If you can give it to me on CD, I can. I normally pick up on stuff by listening to it, since the sheet music doesn't make much sense, so if I can practice it at home tomorrow night, then I'll be good. How about we work on the vocals at lunch tomorrow and I'll work on the music tomorrow night."

"Then we won't have time to practice singing with the music," Blaine pointed out.

Sam shrugged as he pulled out of the parking lot. It was too bad, but there really wasn't anything they could do. Not with Blaine's crazy Cheerio stuff.

"We could rehearse tonight," Blaine offered. "If we get the vocals down tonight, then you can work on getting the guitar part during lunch tomorrow, and we can practice singing along then. At the very least, it can't hurt for you to at least know the song when we start rehearsing at lunch."

"No way," Sam said immediately. "You need to sleep as soon as you get home. No arguments."

Blaine started to protest, but a monstrous yawn stopped his words. "Okay, you've got a point," he admitted. "What about tomorrow morning? You could keep the car and drive over earlier, see if we can get some practice in then. Or... you could spend the night."

Sam nearly choked, his thoughts immediately going to places that he knew Blaine didn't mean. At least, he thought that Blaine wouldn't suggest that kind of stuff. "What?"

"Not like that," Blaine said quickly. "Believe me, I'm way too tired to try to start stuff." Which looked completely true, with the way he slumped into his seat and barely seemed able to keep his eyes open. "It's just, it'll cut out the time it'd take to drive to your house in the morning, so we'd have some extra time to practice. And we can sing while we're getting ready and stuff. I even have a guitar, though I never really learned to play it. You can use it if you need to."

Sam's throat felt way too dry, but he shook all of his bad thoughts away. They'd had sleepovers all the time before. This wasn't weird. Really.

And anyway, there was no way either of them would try to do anything, since they were still waiting before they even kissed. So there shouldn't be a problem, even if they were almost-boyfriends. "I'll have to stop by my house quick to grab my backpack and a change of clothes, but sure, that sounds great."

"Cool," Blaine said. He leaned his head against the window of the car, his entire body slumping. Sam couldn't tell if he was sleeping or if he was only trying to. Either way, there was no way Sam was going to try to wake him up. Blaine definitely needed this.


	12. Chapter 12

**The word document that I use to write this story is now over a hundred pages long! That just blows my mind. Thank you to everyone who reviewed this story and gave me the inspiration to get this far, and of course to Tuuzmorado, for all the help she's given me.**

* * *

Sam slowly opened his eyes, trying to figure out where he was and why the annoying beeping noise that had woken him up didn't sound normal. After a minute, it came back to him. This was Blaine's room. The beeping was coming from Blaine's alarm clock, not Sam's. He was in the same bed as Blaine.

That last one was enough to make his mind go a little crazy.

Blaine groaned and buried his face in his pillow. Sam quickly turned the alarm off before it could wake him. The plan had been to wake up early so that they could rehearse, but Sam figured that it'd be better to let Blaine sleep a little longer.

Sam rolled out of bed and tiptoed over to where he'd dropped his bag the night before, digging out his change of clothes. He tried to suppress a yawn as he walked to the bathroom to get ready, and failed miserably. Blaine had collapsed like a rock the night before, not even brushing his teeth or changing clothes before he was asleep. But Sam hadn't been able to doze off until the early hours of the morning, which may have been because _he'd been in the same bed as Blaine_, his _almost-boyfriend_, and how could that _not_ keep him awake?

It probably would've been easier to sleep if he'd moved to the floor or something, where he wouldn't have been able to feel it every time Blaine shifted position or hear every breath that he took. Somehow, that hadn't occurred to Sam at the time. Oh, well. He'd just have to hope that Blaine's family had tea or something to wake him up. Worse came to worse, he'd even drink some coffee to keep him up, though he'd have to put a ton of milk in it to kill the taste first.

He changed quickly, glad that he'd showered after work the night before, so he didn't have to now. Wouldn't _that_ have been awkward? All he had to do was wash his face and brush his teeth, and he was done. Usually he'd shave, but he decided that he'd be fine without it today. McKinley technically had rules against that, but it wasn't like the stubble on his face was noticeable, anyway. Unlike Blaine, who was apparently a hair-growing machine. Sam bet he could grow a full beard in a week if he wanted to. It was like magic.

There was a knock on the door. "Blaine?" a male voice called. "Are you almost done in there? I need to leave for work in five minutes, and you'd better not make me late!"

Sam swallowed hard. It didn't take a genius to figure out that the guy banging on the door must be Mr. Anderson, but Sam had never met him before. Which was a little weird, considering all the times that Sam had come over to Blaine's house this year, but Blaine always described his dad as a workaholic. Apparently it wasn't unusual for him to spend fourteen hours in the office every day, and when he came home, he usually ended up in his office doing paperwork or something. So despite all the sleepovers, he and Sam simply hadn't run into each other.

This wasn't exactly the way that Sam wanted to meet Blaine's dad, but it wasn't like there was any choice. He tucked his pajamas and toothbrush under one arm and opened the door, his right hand already extended for a handshake. Because Mr. Anderson sounded like a formal man, and Sam wanted to make a good first impression. "Blaine's still sleeping. I'm Sam Evans. I hope you don't mind that Blaine invited me to spend the night."

Mr. Anderson blinked, staring at Sam in surprise. His eyes dropped to Sam's outstretched hand, and after a moment he shook it gingerly, their hands barely touching. "I've never seen you around here."

Sam just shrugged, not sure how to answer that. If he pointed out that Sam was over here all the time, then it'd just look like he was blaming Mr. Anderson for not knowing him. Which would be bad, because Sam really wanted Mr. Anderson to like him. That would make it so much easier when they eventually told him that Sam was dating Blaine.

Oh, god, they were going to have to tell their parents about this eventually. And Burt, too. And probably have one of those awkward dinners where they go over to each others' houses to officially meet the parents and all that. Sam hadn't even thought about that until now, but he decided to worry about it later, because it would just freak him out if he focused too much on it now.

"So," Mr. Anderson said, looking about as awkward as Sam felt. "Are you Blaine's boyfriend?"

"Uh, no," Sam said quickly. Wasn't even a lie. "We're just friends. Best friends," he added after a moment, wanting to emphasize how close they were so it'd be less of a surprise when they did start dating. "I like Blaine a lot. He's awesome." It couldn't hurt to throw in some nice things, make it clear that he cared. Mr. Anderson should appreciate that.

Mr. Anderson just nodded absently, not looking like he cared about what Sam said one way or another. "Right, well, I really have to get to work," he said. Sam exited the bathroom, stepping aside to let Mr. Anderson in. "Thank you. Well, I suppose I'll see you around at some point. I hope the guest room was comfortable enough for you, and let my wife know if any of the toiletries in the guest bathroom need to be restocked, alright?"

"I didn't use the guest room. I shared with Blaine," Sam said, mostly wondering if he had really heard Mr. Anderson use the word toiletries He'd thought nobody actually used that word unless they were in a really fancy hotel that liked to make stuff sound important.

"Right," Mr. Anderson said. A second later, the door slammed shut.

Well, that could have been a lot worse. All in all, he thought that that had gone about as well as could be expected, considering how they'd run into each other. Sam smiled as he walked back to Blaine's room.

"Sam?" Blaine asked, sitting up and rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand in a way that was absolutely adorable. "Where'd you go?"

"Just getting dressed," Sam said, tucking his pajamas back into his bag. "You can go back to sleep if you want. I'll wake you up in a little bit." Blaine nodded and looked like he was going to listen. At least, he would have if Sam hadn't opened his big mouth and said, "Oh, and I just met your dad."

Blaine sat straight up, eyes widening in a way that was really funny, especially with the way his hair was sticking almost straight up from his head. "You did?" Blaine demanded, completely ignoring Sam's laughter. "When? What happened? What did he say?"

"We just ran into each other when I was leaving the bathroom," Sam said, dropping down onto the bed next to Blaine. "I introduced myself and said I was your friend, then he needed to get ready for work so that was that. It really wasn't that big a deal. The way you talk about him, I was expecting something more dramatic, like he'd demand to see my resume before he let me be your friend."

"He was caught off guard this time," Blaine mumbled, swinging his legs over the side of the bed and hurrying over to his closet to grab his spare Cheerios uniform, which he'd have to wear today until his other one could be washed. "Just wait until next time he sees you. He'll be asking about GPA, SATs, you name it."

"Well, hopefully he'll forget about that part, because otherwise I'll be screwed," Sam said, only half-kidding.

Blaine shook his head. "If he even asks about any of that stuff, then I'm going to throw a dramatic, teenager-ish fit and storm out in a way that would make Rachel Berry proud. Did you know that when Finn and Rachel came to check on me before my surgery last year, he actually spent ten minutes interviewing them to make sure that they were 'good influences'? He's crazy."

"Well, it's good that he cares about that," Sam said. Blaine just grumbled in response. "If he did all that for your friends, what did he do when you brought Kurt home?" Hopefully it hadn't been anything bad, because the same thing would probably happen to Sam once their relationship was official.

Based on the uncomfortable look on Blaine's face, that hadn't been the best question to ask. "Nothing," he said. "I'm pretty sure he convinced himself that Kurt didn't exist."

Sam winced. "That sucks," he said, making a note that he should make sure his parents were extra-welcoming to Blaine when they eventually met.

Blaine just shook his head. "Anyway, we should get to work rehearsing, since that's the whole reason you're here." He grabbed his iPod from his desk and tossed it to Sam. "It's called 'Long Live' by Taylor Swift. Tell me what you think of it."

Sam scrolled through the iPod while Blaine headed to the bathroom to get dressed and do his hair. It didn't take long to find the song, and he lied back on the bed with it playing on repeat. The song was definitely good, better than he'd expected Taylor Swift to be, and it was something he could picture the two of them singing together. And he got the whole "inspirational" vibe from it, so Mr. Schue would be happy. Personally, Sam thought that they should do something that would show off Blaine's voice better, but if this was what Blaine chose, then Sam didn't have any problems. After the first time listening to it he closed his eyes and focused on the music, pretending to strum an imaginary guitar as he tried to work out the chords.

"I take it you like the song?" Blaine asked about halfway through the third repeat, walking back into the room.

Sam opened his eyes and nodded. "It's good. We should go through and figure out who's singing what and all that."

Blaine nodded and held out a hand to Sam, who immediately took it and let Blaine haul him to his feet. "Want to get breakfast first? I'm pretty sure Mom made eggs."

The two of them headed downstairs. Both of Blaine's parents had already left for work, though there were eggs still warming on the stove and a note addressed to Sam, telling him that he'd better get enough to eat this time (she seemed to think that Sam was too skinny, and insisted on dumping third helping onto his plate whenever he came over). They each grabbed a plate and sat down with the iPod on the table between them, "Long Live" playing from the speakers. It was the kind of thing they'd done a dozen times before after sleepovers, but like everything else, this felt different. Sam's mind was once again going to weird places, but in a different way. He couldn't stop picturing them moving in together someday. Getting an apartment in New York, since Blaine was so sure that he wanted to go there, and Sam didn't really care. Going to school, getting jobs, getting married eventually. And then one day Sam would wake up early to make this same kind of breakfast for Blaine before work, and they'd eat in bed before going to wake the kids up...

If there was one thing he'd learned from Quinn and Brittany, it was that he really needed to stop jumping into things. Buying Quinn a promise ring before they were even dating, proposing to Brittany after they'd barely been together a month... Not exactly the best ideas. And he was pretty sure that fantasizing about marrying Blaine before they were even fully dating qualified as getting ahead of himself. Still, he had to admit that it made a nice picture.

"Yeah, I'll definitely be able to get this down," Sam said. "Let's see if we can claim the choir room during lunch, okay? Hopefully it won't take me that long to figure it out." Last night, he'd made sure to grab his guitar along with his clothes and toothbrush. It was currently in Blaine's car. Sam could grab it at lunch so they could practice.

"Sounds good," Blaine agreed. "Want me to print out the lyrics so we can learn them during class?"

"Sure," Sam agreed. Normally he did better listening to things instead of reading them, but it wasn't like he could sneak an iPod into class, so this would have to work. "We should get going as soon as you're done, though. Don't want to be late two days in a row."

The words weren't that hard, though. A lot of it was repetitive, even though they agreed to cut the first chorus, and Blaine was singing half of it, so Sam didn't have to worry about those verses. By the time they arrived at school, they must have listened to it twenty times, and Sam was barely stumbling over the words anymore.

"We're going to kill this audition," Sam exclaimed as they walked to his locker.

"Definitely," Blaine said. "I've got to go talk to the history teacher about something, but I'll see you later, okay?"

"See ya," Sam said, and Blaine left.

A minute later, Joe walked over. "Can I ask you a favor?"

"Sure," Sam said, wondering what Joe could want. The two of them were bros, but they didn't really hang out a whole lot.

"There's this girl that I like, and I want to serenade her during lunch on Thursday," he said, a look of both excitement and worry taking over his usually-calm demeanor. "Did Blaine tell you anything about that?" When Sam shook his head, Joe said, "Huh, I figured he would have, since it was his idea. Anyway, will you be willing to back me up?"

"Of course!" Sam said with a grin. Because Joe was really cool, and he totally deserved to have a girl like him back. Well, hopefully she'd like him back; who wouldn't? Joe was awesome. "What song? Do you have anything planned yet? Is she nice?"

Joe smiled. "I haven't decided yet. I'll have it picked out by tomorrow, and I thought we could rehearse tomorrow after school." His smile grew. "And yes, she's... amazing."

"Glad to hear it," Sam said. "Yeah, I'll be there tomorrow. Blaine won't be, because of Cheerios, you know. But I could try to teach him the steps, if you want him to help."

"That would be great," Joe said. "I kind of want him to be there, since he came up with the idea. Thanks for helping me out, man."

"No problem," Sam said, giving Joe a high five before turning to leave.

"Oh, and Sam?" Joe said. Sam turned and saw Joe staring at him with a way-too-serious expression. "Don't worry. Everyone in Glee knows that the rumors aren't true. The rest of the school will forget about it eventually."

Sam frowned, his mind instantly going back to the staring yesterday. He'd known that there was something to it, not just paranoia. He glanced around. There weren't that many people in the halls right now, and there definitely wasn't the same amount of staring that there had been yesterday, but a few people were throwing glances his way. Enough to make him instantly uncomfortable. He turned back to ask Joe what exactly he meant by the rumors, but he had already walked away.

Sam checked his watch as he started toward his classroom. There wasn't time to go searching for anyone now, but as soon as first hour was over he'd go find someone else in Glee and ask what the heck was going on. Because it was definitely something, and he wanted to prepare for it before anything could go wrong.

* * *

"So, what are you singing for your audition?" Blaine asked, coming up behind Tina as the two of them walked toward third hour. She shot him a glare over her shoulder and didn't respond. "Well, after you had to learn a song in a completely different language for Sectionals, I don't know what you could do to top that," he said. Still no response. He sighed. "Are you mad at me?"

"Why yes, Blaine, I am," Tina snapped, spinning around to face him. "I understand that you and Sam are close, and that he's helped you out this year. But may I remind you that we have been friends this year, too, for just as long as you and Sam have. I have tried to be there for you all year, and I don't appreciate being pushed aside just because you have a crush on Sam."

"Shhh," he said, more out of habit than anything else. There wasn't really anyone around. "The fact that Sam and I spend time together has nothing to do with any crushes – and I don't have one, by the way."

"Oh, please." Tina rolled her eyes. "Anyone can see it, Blaine. You want Sam badly, and you've been pushing me aside so you can try to get him."

"When have I ever pushed you aside?" Blaine asked, honestly surprised to hear her say this.

"Last Monday, when you invited him to go boyfriend-scouting even though we'd been planning that for weeks," she said, crossing her arms and ramping her glare up about a dozen notches. "You didn't even ask me first, you just invited him along. And then you just texted me that the three of you were leaving together, didn't even ask what I thought of that. Then there's yesterday, when I wanted to sing a duet with you but you already had one planned with Sam. Never mind that you two have already sung together a ton of times and we never have."

Blaine felt guilt stirring in his stomach. "Listen, Tina, I never realized that you were upset about that," he said, though part of him felt like he should have realized that she would be. For one, Tina had proven that she could get upset about anything, justified or not. But this one felt justified. He thought back over the last week and realized that, other than a Brainiacs meeting where they'd been too busy concentrating to actually do much talking and a few moments in the hallways, he hadn't spent any time with her. Every other moment had been spent with Sam, goofing off and figuring things out and trying to make decisions about what their relationship would be. "I'm really sorry. Can I make it up to you? Maybe hang out after school next week?"

To his relief, she relaxed and even smiled slightly. "It's okay," Tina said. "I do want to spend more time with you, though. Just the two of us, with no Sam."

"We can do that," he said, reaching over to give her a one-armed hug, glad that she'd forgiven him so easily. He hadn't been entirely sure that she would. But then, she really was a nice person, even if she didn't really show it.

"And another thing, Blaine," she said, and his stomach clenched, but she looked more concerned than angry. "Just be careful around Sam, okay?"

He frowned. "Why?" Was she about to suggest that Sam was dangerous? Because the very thought was completely insane. Sam would never hurt anyone.

"Because even if you try to deny it, you obviously have feelings for him," she said softly. "And I'm sure you remember that I know what it's like to be in love with someone who can't like you back because of your gender." Blaine winced a little at that, but Tina kept going, not sounding accusing in the slightest. "Obviously I don't believe any of the rumors. The whole club knows that Sam is straight. He has a girlfriend, Blaine. He's not going to like you back."

"Wait, what?" Blaine asked. "Sam doesn't have a girlfriend."

Tine looked confused. "What?"

"He and Brittany broke up on Saturday," Blaine said.

"Really?" Tina asked. It was obvious from her shocked expression that this was news to her. "But they looked like they were doing fine on Fondue for Two. I can't believe nobody said anything! That would explain why she was moping around the choir room and not talking to anyone yesterday."

Blaine felt another spasm of guilt as the thought of Brittany being too upset to talk, but he forced himself to push it away. "Yeah, they're definitely not together anymore."

"Huh," Tina said, then shrugged. "I guess it was hard to tell with them. Sam always spends more time with you than with her, anyway, so the fact that they weren't sitting together didn't mean much. I'm surprised that neither of them mentioned it, though."

"Yeah," Blaine said. It kind of made sense that Brittany hadn't, if she was really as upset as Tina said (and Blaine immediately felt bad for not checking up at her at Cheerios yesterday, even though there hadn't been much time for that, considering how hard Sue had worked them). And there had to be a good reason why Sam wouldn't. Maybe he just didn't think to say anything, and it wasn't like they'd spent a whole lot of time with the New Directions, anyway.

Blaine didn't feel like talking about it anymore. "Tell me about Yoshiro," he said. "That guy you met at the mall? Still as hot and nice as ever? Give me all the details, and let's pretend that I'd been a better friend and asked you all about it last week."

That earned him a smile. "He's incredibly sweet," she said. "We met for coffee on Saturday and spent hours just talking. We were supposed to go on our first official date tonight, but he had to cancel. You should have seen him. He spent about half an hour apologizing for canceling while I kept telling him that it was okay."

Tina not being upset over a canceled date? She must seriously like this guy. "Why did he have to cancel?"

"He found out that his best friend is planning on proposing tonight," she said. "He offered to come along and hide in the crowd with a video camera to capture the moment. Isn't that romantic?"

"Yeah, it is," Blaine said with a smile.

"Anyway, I've got to go to class, but I'll see you later," she said.

Blaine knew that he really should hurry to his own class, to make absolutely sure that he wasn't late. Instead, he stopped and pulled out his phone, typing out a quick message to Jeremiah. _Heard tonight's the big night. :) Good luck!_

Barely a minute later, his phone buzzed with the reply. _Got the ring, got the courage, got everything planned. Just hope I've got the patience to wait until tonight!_

He smiled down at his phone, happy that Jeremiah seemed so excited. A second later he got another message. _Let me know as soon as you win over that Sam of yours and we'll double!_ That one made him grin like an idiot, partly because he was amazed that Jeremiah had remembered Sam's name, and partly because the thought of going on any sort of date with Sam made him ridiculously silly.

He was so caught up in typing out an affirmative reply that he didn't even notice the football players approaching until the slushies were hitting him from three different sides.

"That's a message to you and your faggy boyfriend," a voice spat. Blaine's eyes were burning too much for him to open that, but he'd recognize Lipoff's voice anywhere. "Next time, keep the gay to yourself before you spread it to anyone else."


	13. Chapter 13

**This is my shortest chapter to date. Unfortunately, this is a busy week for me, and I wanted to at least get something up on time, even if I didn't have as much done as I'd hoped. Saturday's chapter may also be a bit on the short side, but after that I should be able to get back to normal chapter lengths.**

**My thanks, as always, to the amazing Tuuzmorado!**

* * *

Blaine stumbled back against the wall, his hands instinctively flying up to protect his face even though it was too late. He kept his eyes squeezed closed, but the corn syrup was already making them burn. It didn't hurt nearly as bad as the one that Sebastian had hit him with last year, but still, he absolutely _hated_ this feeling.

He never did see which of the football goons Lipoff had brought with him, but after a moment, he heard three pairs of footsteps moving away from him. Only then did he dare to straighten and wipe the slush from his face as best he could before opening his eyes, trying not to blink because he knew from too many experiences that that would only make the burning worse.

The bell rang, not that that made a difference. He couldn't go to class like this. Instead, he sighed and tucked his phone back into his bag, then headed for the girls' bathroom on the second floor. It was small and out-of-the-way, meaning that hardly anyone used it. Which was exactly what made it the best place to clean up from a slushy attack – the jocks couldn't follow you in there, and there were hardly any girls around to scream when the guys needed to use it to clean. He was pretty sure Kurt had started the "tradition", but by now, it was practically a second home to the New Directions. A very depressing, anger-inducing home that nobody actually wanted to have to visit.

Nobody was in there when Blaine arrived, as always. He let his bag drop to the floor and grabbed a handful of paper towels to wipe off the last of the slush. They did nothing about the dye still stuck to his skin, but he'd worry about that later. Right now, he just wanted to get cleaned up enough that he could change clothes without accidentally staining his second outfit, too. If he stayed in this sticky uniform any longer, it might end up attached to his chest permanently.

Shit, his uniform! Blaine looked down, eyes widening. His entire front was covered in blue, purple, and red splotches. There was no way that any of that would come out. He groaned, running one hand through his hair (which was fine, because the slushy had already messed it up pretty well, so he didn't have to worry about keeping it neat). Sue was going to kill him when she found out, and he was about ninety-nine percent sure that there was a clause in that ridiculous contract that said that she could shave the head of anyone who returned a uniform in less-than-perfect condition. It would be just like Sue to hold him to that. Maybe he could convince her that he'd make the whole squad look ridiculous if he was bald. At the very least, it might buy him a reprieve until after the competition.

"They got you, too, huh?"

Blaine looked up and saw Sam standing in the doorway, scowling, his own face and shirt covered in cherry slush. Blaine winced. All of the stains were the same color, but there were enough of them that he had to have been hit by more than one slushy. This was looking less like a random act and more like a coordinated attack, probably by the entire team.

Blaine grabbed another handful of paper towels and passed them to Sam. "Do you think they got the rest of the club?"

Sam shook his head, sending drops from his hair splattering to the floor. "I think it was just us."

"I hope so," Blaine mumbled, though he kept expecting one of the other glee kids to come walking through the door any moment. After all, he couldn't think of any reason why he and Blaine would be targeted specifically. Well, there was the fact that Lipoff seemed to hold a special hatred for Blaine (and all other gay guys in general), but if it was a hate crime, then Sam wouldn't have been attacked.

Lipoff's words echoed in Blaine's mind. _That's a message to you and your faggy boyfriend. Next time, keep the gay to yourself before you spread it to anyone else._

Blaine really, really hoped that this wasn't supposed to be a hate crime.

"They really got you, didn't they?" Sam said, staring down at Blaine's uniform, which was so stained that there were only splotches of the white fabric amid the colors.

"Three at once," Blaine said with a grimace. That was definitely not something he wanted to ever experience again. "You?"

"Only two of them," Sam said, as if that made it any better. He sighed and slid his jacket off, leaving him only in his T shirt. Which was still stained, but not nearly as bad. "We should get cleaned up."

Blaine nodded and pulled his spare outfit from his bag, grateful that he still carried it with him. He'd almost stopped; after all, he hadn't been slushied in months now. But something had kept him paranoid enough to keep it with him. "I'll wash your hair if you wash mine?" It was easy to miss some of the dye when you tried to get cleaned up by yourself, which was why the New Directions had taken to keeping their phones on during class, in case one of their friends ever texted with a slushy SOS.

"Sounds good to me," Sam said, already pulling his shirt over his head. Blaine hurried into the nearest stall without looking, because he was sure that if he stole a glance, he'd probably end up staring. And yeah, maybe that shouldn't be awkward, considering all the times they'd hung out shirtless in the gym. But it still sort of was.

A minute later, Blaine poked his head out of the stall, ready to duck back in if Sam was still changing. Luckily, though, he was done. "You want me to wash your hair first?" Blaine offered as he walked out, his uniform carefully folded and draped over one arm. Even if it was beyond saving, he was still going to treat it as carefully as possible, in the hopes that Sue would have mercy.

"Sure," Sam said, turning around. His eyebrows rose. "That's your emergency outfit?"

"Yeah," Blaine said, glancing down nervously. It didn't seem any different than the things he normally wore – just some red pants with a light pink button down and a black sweater vest. And his favorite pink bow tie, because he figured that if he had to get slushied, then he should at least get to wear something he loved afterward. But now he wondered if there was something wrong with it. "Why?"

"Nothing," Sam said with a smile. "I like it a lot. It's just, most people don't pack such an elaborate outfit as their emergency one." He gestured down to his own outfit to demonstrate, which was just another T shirt and gym shorts. "Only you, dude," he said with a laugh, and Blaine joined in.

Blaine reached for his bag, pulling out the travel bottles of shampoo and conditioner that he kept in there. "Anyway, we can start with you. Kneel down and get ready, and hopefully we'll finish this before anyone else comes in here."

Sam laughed harder. "I like the sound of that," he said as he knelt, then gave Blaine an exaggerated wink.

Blaine instantly blushed. "That wasn't what I meant! I'm just going to wash your hair out."

"Oh, I know," Sam said, leaning back so his head was under the faucet. "But you're cute when you're flustered."

"Thanks," Blaine said, not sure if he should take that as a compliment or not. He stepped forward and turned the water on. Sam shivered. "Sorry. It'll warm up in a second," Blaine said.

"I know," Sam said. He smiled as Blaine ran his hands through Sam's hair. "You know, aside from the fact that the bullies suck, this is actually kind of nice." Blaine snorted, which made Sam grin. "It is! I mean, I'm in favor of anything that leads to you playing with my hair."

"Mmmhmm," Blaine said absently, squeezing a glob of shampoo into the palm of his hand. "Well, I can think of a ton of more pleasant reasons for me to play with your hair. Just remind me next time we're watching a movie together if you want me to."

"I'll hold you to that."

Blaine nodded, even though Sam's eyes were still closed, and got to work. The minutes passed in silence as Blaine tried to wash all traces of the red out. Which was harder than it sounded, since Sam's hair was so light.

"What are we going to do about the rumors?" Sam asked out of nowhere, his voice smaller and a lot more serious than it had been a few minutes earlier. His eyes opened, and he looked at Blaine like he genuinely didn't know what to do. "This isn't going to go away, is it?"

Blaine frowned. "What rumors?" he asked. Now that he thought about it, Tina had mentioned something along those lines, but he'd been too distracted to question her on it.

"You hadn't heard?" Sam asked, starting to sit up. Blaine gently pushed him back down and reached for the conditioner, partly for the sake of Sam's hair, and partly because Blaine really did like running his hands through Sam's hair like this, and wasn't quite ready to stop. "Dude, they know," Sam said quietly.

Again, Blaine could hear Lipoff's words in his head. But he had to ask, just in case it wasn't actually as bad as he thought it was. "Know what?"

"About you and me," Sam said. "Somehow the rumors got started... I don't really know how, I think it was what we said on Fondue for Two. That must be how it started, someone must have seen the show, after all. But anyway, Blaine... They think we're dating."


	14. Chapter 14

**Thank you to everyone who has reviewed/favorited/followed this story! I don't write authors notes too often, but I really do want to tell you all how much it means to me. Did you know this story has almost reached a hundred reviews? That's just mind blowing, and I really can't thank you enough for all of your support.**

**In response to a guest review: No, I don't have an account on either AO3 or Tumblr. I hope to get a tumblr soon, and when I do, I'll make sure to mention it in both my authors notes and my profile. I might also get an AO3 account at some point, but for now, is the only place I post.**

**Thanks, as always, to Tuuzmorado.**

* * *

"I thought there were already rumors about that?" Blaine asked after a moment, looking like he still didn't quite get what a big deal this was.

Sam took a deep breath. "There were, but nobody really believed them, you know? I mean, I hadn't even heard about it. I think Brittany had only heard the rumor because she knows all the gossip, ever, but it wasn't a big deal. But they believe them now. It's not just that the rumor exists. It's that everyone actually, really believes it."

Sam could tell the exact moment Blaine understood, because his eyes widened and his face grew worried. Then he shut his eyes, because he really didn't want Blaine to look into his own eyes and see everything that Sam was feeling. At least, not until Sam could figure out a way to start feeling good things.

In the big scheme of things, this shouldn't matter. Sam had planned on coming out sometime next week, to get ready for Regionals and so the glee club wouldn't be as surprised when they started dating. It was only a week early, which wasn't much, really. And the only people who seemed to believe it were the idiot jocks and the kids that Sam had never talked to before, and they didn't matter. And Sam loved Blaine, wanted to be with Blaine, so who cared how people found out about the two of them?

Except Sam hadn't even begun to think about how he was going to come out, because just brainstorming ideas made him feel sick and scared.

Except Sam hadn't gotten to choose to let these people know. They just heard rumors and decided it was the truth, without giving anyone else a say.

Except that this was only the second day, and Sam had already been slushied for it. And something made him feel like this was only the beginning.

"Are you okay?" Blaine asked quietly, running his hands through Sam's hair again, his touch soft and comforting.

Sam took a deep breath and got to his feet, opening his eyes as he did so. "Why don't you let me wash out your hair now, so we can get to class soon?"

The way Sam avoided the question only seemed to make Blaine look more nervous, but he didn't say a word as he got to his knees and stuck his head under the water. Sam squeezed a bunch of shampoo onto his hand and started washing out Blaine's hair as quickly as he could, though he wasn't sure if he wanted to get this over with or draw it out. The sooner he got away from Blaine, the sooner he could start trying to work out what the heck was going on in his head without having to worry about hurting Blaine's feelings. But when they were cleaned up, Sam would also have to go back to class, which was the exact last place he wanted to be. Especially since he shared a few classes with Lipoff.

"Sam, I get that this is a big deal," Blaine said as Sam started up with the conditioner. "I've been here, okay? Someone at my old school outed me freshman year. It sucks. Of course you're upset about it."

Sam didn't say anything, just finished rinsing out Blaine's hair and turned off the water. Blaine stood and grabbed a handful of paper towels to dry it with.

"Sam, we promised we were going to be honest with each other," he said quietly. "You can say it. Tell me that you're upset about the rumors."

"I..." Sam took a deep breath. "I just didn't get a chance to say it the way I wanted to. It's like, I was going to come out on my own, but they took that from me."

"I know," Blaine said, the corner of his lips turning up in a comforting smile, though he didn't look happy at all. "This is pretty much the worse way to come out, and the worse way to find out about the rumors." Blaine gestured to their stained clothes to show what he meant. "But it happened, and now we've got to figure out what to do."

Sam frowned. He hadn't even begun to think about how to respond to this. Except that he wanted to just run away from school and work at the pizza place for the rest of his life so that he'd never have to come back, but that wasn't really an option. "I don't know," he admitted.

"Well," Blaine said, taking a deep breath, "we could try to make them think that it's not true. If we didn't spend as much time together, the rumors would probably die out pretty fast..."

"What?" Sam asked, his mouth opened to protest, but then he stopped. Blaine had a point. Staying away from each other would be the smartest way to stop the rumors, and it wouldn't have to be for long, just for a little bit. He bet they could make the rumors die off by the end of the week, if they really ignored each other. Then things would go back to normal.

"...No," Sam said. Blaine would hate doing that, and anyway, Sam didn't want to act like he was ashamed, or like he was letting the bullies win. He felt bad for even thinking about it, like he was ashamed of Blaine. That wasn't true, was it? Sam knew that Blaine was the best guy in school, and Sam would never want to pretend they weren't together, right?

He should know the answers to those questions off the top of his head. The fact that he didn't was worrying.

"Let's just not do anything," Sam said. "Act normal, and see what happens. Just don't, you know, confirm it or anything. Not that you would, because we're not dating. But don't say anything that makes them think that we are or lets them know that we will be, soon. We're just bros, okay?" He winced at how that sounded. "Not that I don't want them to know that I love you..." He stopped there, because, well, Sam didn't want the school to know. Saying otherwise would just make him a liar.

Blaine stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Sam. Normally, his hugs had some magical power that always made Sam feel better, no matter what was wrong. Now, though, it didn't work. "You were going to come out on your own time, and they didn't let you," Blaine said quietly. "So you want to decide for yourself when we're going to confirm it. Of course you can do that. Take however long you need."

Sam should be glad that Blaine was so understanding, and amazed at how he had possibly ended up with a guy as great as him. But instead, all he could do was cringe, because it felt like such a lie.

Sam hadn't known if he was going to come out or not. That was what killed him. Sure, he'd figured that he could. He'd have to, if he wanted to really be with Blaine. So he'd tried to imagine big, dramatic gestures. Declarations of love in front of everyone. Kisses in the hallways, or a public serenade, since he figured Blaine would like something like that. But even as he pictured himself doing these things, he knew that they'd never happen. He was too much of a coward to come out like that. When he did do it, it was going to be smaller. Maybe just casually dropping it into a conversation - "The actor who played the lead was super hot. Oh yeah, I'm bi, that's why I noticed." Or he could just say it straight out, maybe to Artie, since he was the guy that Sam knew best. Or Ryder, because he was cool. Two words. "I'm bi." Simple, except not really.

It shouldn't have been a big deal. He'd seen the way that the club accpeted Blaine, and Brittany, and Kurt, Santana, and Unique. Sam wouldn't be any different, he knew that. But that didn't change a thing. If it was anyone else, he wouldn't be able to understand why they would be so scared to share this. But this was his own sexuality, his own coming out, his own personal business, and it felt way too personal to share with the world even if he knew that he had to if he wanted to date Blaine.

Every time Sam had tried to picture coming out in one of those simple ways, it was like his brain seized up and wouldn't go any further. It felt too real. These were ways that he could actually come out in real life, and he couldn't picture it. Dramatic gestures that he'd never actually go through with? Yeah, he could imagine that. But anything that he might actually do was too scary to think about.

Which was what bothered him so much. He could barely even think about coming out, and now everyone knew - and more than that, they were attacking him because of it. But more than that, Blaine had acted like there was no question over whether Sam would come out or not. Sam wasn't so sure if he would have been able to. He liked to think that he would have, but now he'd never know.

For some reason, that was the part that hurt the most.

"You know," Blaine suddenly said as he pulled back, a smile playing on his lips, "I think that was the first time you ever said that you love me."

Sam froze. Of course he loved Blaine, and he knew it, but he'd been planning on saving the words for a special time. Like maybe Regionals, or even after that. No sense rushing into things, because as much as he wanted to, that hadn't really worked for him the past few times. "I didn't even realize I said it," he said quietly.

"I think it's romantic," Blaine said. "Having it just slip out without you even noticing it."

That was one way to look at it. But Sam still wished that he could have prepared something better, instead of it just coming out. At the very least, he would've liked to know what he was saying as he said it, not just realize it in hindsight.

"I think you should wait to say it back," Sam said, before Blaine got the chance to speak again. "Make something special of the first time you say it."

"This was special," Blaine said, then nodded. "If you want. I guess you'll just have to see what happens when I try to be romantic. It's going to knock your socks off."

"Looking forward to it, dude," Sam said with a grin that felt genuine for a moment, before he remembered the jocks and coming out and that he still needed to figure out what the heck he was going to do. "Should we get back to class?"

"I just need to gel my hair first," Blaine said, reaching for his bag and digging around inside it. After a moment, he froze.

"What's wrong?" Sam said, rushing forward. Blaine looked so panicked that for a moment Sam worried that the bullies had left something in his bag. Like that scene in The Godfather when they left a horse's head in the bed, except hopefully not as gross.

"I forgot to replace my gel," Blaine whispered. "I used up the last of it yesterday, and I never put some new stuff in my bag."

Sam relaxed. "That all?"

Blaine turned to glare at him. "There is no way I can leave the bathroom looking like this!" he said, pointing toward his head. Admittedly, Blaine's hair was crazier than Sam had ever seen it before, which was saying something. It still didn't look like it was worth the panicked look on Blaine's face, but it wouldn't be worth it to point that out, so Sam just said, "You have extra in your gym locker, right? Want me to go grab it for you?"

Blaine sent him a grateful look. "Would you?"

"Of course." Sam headed for the door, giving Blaine a little wave as he walked off. "Be back in a few minutes."

There was a class in session right then, so the locker room should have been deserted. Sam walked in and headed straight for Blaine's locker, entering the combination from memory. This wasn't the first time one of them had had to borrow something from each other's locker, and by now, Sam knew all of Blaine's combinations as well as his own.

"Well, isn't this sweet? Getting something for your boyfriend?"

Sam stiffened and turned slowly. "What are you doing here, Lipoff?"

Lipoff smirked. "I should be asking you that, considering I have gym this period and you don't. What, does your boyfriend need a change of clothes for some reason? What happened to his other pair? I hope nothing got spilled on them."

"Screw off," Sam snapped, which wasn't the kind of thing he usually said, but he was too angry to deal with this right now. Not to mention that he had to get away before Lipoff could say "boyfriend" one more time. Sam didn't want to hear it. He reached back and grabbed Blaine's extra gel, then made sure to lock the locker again before turning away. The last thing they needed was Lipoff getting his hands on Blaine's stuff.

"Oh, gotta help the fag fix his hair? That's so nice of you." Sam could hear the sneer in Lipoff's voice, but didn't turn around to look.

The gel was suddenly ripped from Sam's hand. "Hey, this is nice stuff. Think I might keep it."

Sam spun around and glared at Lipoff. "Will you just give that back and leave me alone?"

"Uh, I don't think so. Sorry if I don't take orders from a fag like you." Lipoff laughed, and Sam couldn't help but flinch. Out of every word in every single language, that had to be the worst one to ever be invented. And having it thrown at him hurt a lot more than he'd thought it would. "Oh, was that a sore spot? Maybe you prefer the term fairy, huh? That one suits you better?"

"I'm not gay," Sam said through gritted teeth. Something about arguing that felt wrong, like he was saying there was something wrong with being gay by arguing that. Which there wasn't, obviously.

"Really?" Lipoff raised his eyebrows in mock surprise. "Because I'm guessing your boyfriend would say otherwise."

"Blaine isn't my boyfriend," Sam said. True, but again, it felt wrong to deny it like that. But the words just came out, without him having any idea he was going to say it. Just like earlier when he'd told Blaine that he loved him.

"Good," Lipoff said. "Because this, what we did? This was just a warning. You don't even want to see what we'll do if you two actually turn into fuck buddies." He shoved the gel back into Sam's hands. Sam was so surprised that he let it fall right through his hands and hit the ground. Lipoff snorted, which made Sam glare at him even harder. His parents had always taught him that God wanted them to love everyone, and that he shouldn't hold grudges, no matter how badly someone hurt him. But right then, he had never hated anyone as badly as he hated Lipoff. Not even Karofsky.

"Oh, and by the way," Lipoff added as he started to leave. "Even if you do turn into a fag, make sure to shack up with someone different, you got that? Because we all know that he got dumped because he couldn't keep it in his pants. I'm pretty sure he thinks STDs are Pokemon; gotta catch them all, right?"

That was when Sam tackled him.

Last time Sam had gotten into a serious fight, it had been against Karofsky, and it had been over pretty much before it started. This was different. He and Lipoff were closer to the same height, for one. He also wasn't as strong as Karofsky, meaning Sam actually stood a chance.

Lipoff crashed back into the rows of lockers, stumbling. Sam moved forward to shove him again, but Lipoff rushed him before he could. Sam wasn't even sure he knew what was happening, but his back connected with the lockers hard enough that he felt it through his whole body. Lipoff smacked his across the face, hard enough to make blood shoot from his nose. Sam started throwing punches back, and still didn't exactly know what was happening - it was too fast - but he felt his fist smash into something and heard Lipoff cry out, so he knew he must have connected.

"That's enough!" Hands clamped around Lipoff's shoulders a second before he could launch himself at Sam for a second hit, and Sam blinked up, realizing that Beiste was looming over them. "Both of you, my office, now," she said, giving Lipoff a shove toward the door. She glanced back at Sam and said, "I'll get you some tissues to mop up the blood, but then I want to know what the heck is going on with you two."


	15. Chapter 15

**I was a bad author this chapter. And by that, I mean that I didn't even finish writing this chapter until 9:30 PM on the day it was supposed to be posted, and then I still needed to send it to my beta (Tuuzmorado, who was fabulous about getting it read quickly so that it wouldn't be any later than it had to be). So I'm sorry that this is a little late! **

**I'm going camping this weekend, which I'm thrilled for! But that does mean that I'll spend almost all weekend without Internet, so there won't be a chapter up on Saturday. Chapter 16 will be posted next Tuesday.**

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Sam stared down at his left hand, which was clenched around the baggy fabric of his gym shorts. He kept thinking that maybe, if he just watched them hard enough, he'd look up and realize that he wasn't actually in Beiste's office. That he hadn't just been busted for fighting. That he and Lipoff weren't sitting in front of her desk while she paced behind it. Of course, the throbbing in his face – and the fact that he was holding a wad of tissues to his bloody nose with his right hand – made it hard to believe that, but he was trying. Maybe it was a dream, even if dreams weren't actually supposed to hurt like this. Because anything would be better than being here.

"You want to tell me what was going on back there?" Beiste demanded, slamming her hands down on her desk hard enough to make Sam flinch. So he hadn't imagined it, then. God, what were his parents going to say? Or the rest of the glee club. They'd kill him if he got suspended right before Regionals, when they barely had two weeks to rehearse.

"I was just grabbing my arm band from my locker like you said I could, and Sam attacked me like a crazy person," Lipoff said, gesturing at wildly at Sam.

"That wasn't how it happened at all," Sam protested, wincing at how nasally his voice sounded, turning to glare at Lipoff. Secretly he was terrified. Because wasn't that sort of how it had gown down? Lipoff had been egging him on, yeah, and he totally deserved it after those things he said about Blaine. But Sam had turned it physical, so wasn't it his fault? At least, wouldn't that be how the school would view it?

"Then tell me how it happened," Beiste said. She didn't sit down, but she did lean forward across her desk, which somehow made her look less intimidating.

"Lipoff and his friends slushied me and Blaine," Sam said, making a vague gesture down at his clothes, even though he wasn't wearing the slushied ones. He instinctively glanced around for his bag, so he could pull out the evidence, but of course it was still in the bathroom with Blaine. "I can show you if you let me get the stained clothes from my backpack."

"You can't prove I did that," Lipoff exclaimed, looking at Beiste. "There's no evidence. And even if he does have a stained shirt or something, the glee club hates me. I bet they slushied it themselves just to frame me. I swear I never slushied Sam."

"No, but you got Blaine," Sam snapped, clenching his hand even tighter around the bottom of his shorts, because it would be really bad to start another fight with Beiste sitting right there. That didn't mean Sam wasn't tempted, especially when he thought of the football goons cornering Blaine. Blaine was super tough with a punching bags, but no way could he stand up to three of them at once, if it came to that.

"Why don't you keep telling me what happened?" Beiste asked, in a voice that gave nothing away. "What were you even doing in the locker room in the first place?"

Sam swallowed hard. "Blaine asked me to come get his gel for him, and when I got here, Lipoff started to insult the two of us. He was calling Blaine a fag and-" Sam stopped, not sure if he wanted to say that Lipoff had said that Sam was a fag, too, not just Blaine. It wasn't like Sam wanted to hide anything that Lipoff had done, especially if it could help get him in trouble. But this felt different than defending Blaine. More personal, since it was about him. And also, he wasn't sure who had heard the rumors about him and Blaine, and that made him strangely reluctant to mention anything that had to do with them. The fewer people heard about those, the better.

It didn't matter that Beiste was a teacher – one of the best teachers – so it wasn't like she'd go around gossiping. That was still how he felt.

"-And he said some really bad things about Blaine. Things that aren't true, by the way." Sam couldn't help snapping that last part at Lipoff. He really wished that the Eli thing hadn't gotten around the school, because Blaine didn't need crap from bullies just because he made a stupid mistake.

"Did you throw the first punch?" Beiste asked.

Sam really wished that he could lie, but that was something he'd been raised not to do, just like his parents always told him not to fight or hate anyone. And since those two had kind of gone out the window, he should at least try to hang onto the last one. Besides, lying would make him feel way too guilty. "I did," he admitted quietly. Next to him, Lipoff smirked.

Beiste stared at Sam for a long minute. Sam kept staring down at his legs, so he didn't see her, but he could feel her gaze. Finally she said, "Okay, here's what we're going to do. I should report this to Figgins, but if I did that, you'd both get suspended."

"What?" Lipoff protested, and Sam bit his lip hard to keep from doing the same. He knew he deserved to get in trouble for this, but at the same time, he really didn't want to ruin things for the New Directions. That wouldn't be fair at all. And he was about to tell Beiste that, but she held up a hand for silence.

"I take it you don't want me to do that?" she asked.

"Hell no," Lipoff snapped. "We've got a big soccer game next week, and there's no way I'm being gone for that!" Sam hadn't known that Lipoff played soccer. But then, he didn't exactly follow McKinley sports anymore, now that he didn't really know anyone on the team (except Ryder). And it made sense, considering the football season had ended months ago, and the jocks were still clearly going to the gym for some sport.

Beiste just nodded. "Then you'll be fine with doing things my way," she said, and Sam eagerly nodded. Anything that would let him still compete. Lipoff didn't look as happy, but Beiste glared at him until he reluctantly nodded.

"Sam, you've got detention with me every day this week," she said. "Two hours, and I expect you to be working the entire time, you got that?"

Sam nearly collapsed with relief. Okay, so two hours of work didn't sound so good, but it was way better than the alternative. Plus, he liked Beiste, so spending the time helping her out wouldn't be too bad. "Yes, definitely," he said, thinking of his work schedule. Luckily, he was only doing evening shifts at the pizza place this week, so the detentions shouldn't interfere. Well, he was also supposed to work for Burt on Friday after school, but he knew that Burt would let him come in late.

"And you, Phil," she said, turning to Lipoff. "You're with me for three weeks, starting next week. Two hours after school, same as Sam."

"What the fuck?" he demanded. "That's when I've got soccer! I'm gonna miss almost all of the practices."

"First of all, if you think you're going to use that language with me, you've got another thing coming," she told him, her voice almost dangerous. "And you should have thought of that before you got into a fight. The New Directions practice after school, and you don't see Sam complaining about missing out."

Sam wondered if she realized that all of the rehearsals this week had been moved to before school and lunch time. She must; she and Mr. Schue were friends, so he must have said something. Not to mention that she probably saw the Cheerios practicing in the gym, and since Blaine was doing the solo, she'd have to know that New Directions couldn't be practicing then. Still, Lipoff had no reason to know that, and Sam sure wasn't going to tell him.

"Sam was the one who started this! You heard him say it. Why'd I get it so much worse?" Lipoff asked, glaring at Beiste. "I'm going to file a complaint, tell Figgins that you're playing favorites."

"It's because you've got a record, Phil," she snapped, hitting the top of her desk again. "Sam hasn't had any problems, except for one time when he was defending his friends two years ago and a few detentions for not wearing his shirt in January. You're in here every other week for some reason or other, and quite frankly, I'm done trying to get you to clean up. You don't want your punishment? Fine, we can bring Figgins into this if you want, but it's only going to get worse for you if we do. You still want that?" She paused, like she was actually waiting for an answer. Lipoff just scowled and crossed his arms over his chest. "Good," she said, and pointed to the door. "Now get back to class and give me twenty laps around the gym. You're not leaving until they're done."

Grumbling, Lipoff stood and stalked off, making sure to bump Sam's arm as he did. Sam was sure that this was only going to make things worse between him and the jocks, but for now, he was just grateful he hadn't gotten in worst trouble with Beiste. With any luck, his parents wouldn't even have to hear about this.

"Stay back a minute, Sam," Beiste said as Sam started to stand.

He quickly sat back down. "Do you need something else?" he asked, worried, half convinced that this had been too easy, and that she would give him his real punishment now.

She also took a seat, though she was still leaning toward him. Before, though, she'd looked all stony and intimidating. Now she just looked concerned. "How's your nose? You think I need to take you to get it checked out?"

He shook his head, gingerly touching the bridge of his nose. It still hurt a ton, but it didn't feel broken. "It's fine. Already stopped bleeding," he added when she looked unconvinced, moving the tissues away from his nose to show her. "Besides, I think you're supposed to wait a few days for the swelling to go down first when the injury isn't that bad, 'cause they can't do anything about it before then." Last summer, Stevie had gotten hit in the face during Little League, and Sam had been put in charge of Googling nose injuries on his cell phone. And he knew it was stupid to take medical advice from the Internet, but some of those medical sites had looked legit. (And luckily Stevie had been fine, and ended up going back to the game a few minutes later. Which was good, because some of the things he'd found had started to freak him out. He might have panicked if Stevie actually had to go to the hospital.)

Beiste nodded. "I'd still feel better if you got it looked at," she said. "I'm taking you myself if the swelling doesn't go down soon."

He nodded. "Okay. But I didn't hear it crack or anything, so I think I'm good. Plus, it doesn't hurt nearly enough to be broken." He'd been there last year when Finn had accidentally nailed Rachel during a rehearsal, and he didn't think anyone in the club had ever forgotten how painful that had looked. And sounded. "So, am I free to go?" he asked, hoping that this was all she'd wanted him for. Because he really should be getting back to Blaine, before he started to worry.

"One more thing," she said. "Why did you really start that fight?"

"What?" he asked.

She leaned even further across her desk, if that was possible. "I know you're the type to go a little crazy defending your friends. The fight with Karofsky proved that. So if you say that this was all for Blaine's sake, then I'll believe you. But I got the feeling earlier that you were holding back, and I want to know about it so I can be on the lookout."

Sam fidgeted and bit his lip. It wasn't like he didn't trust Beiste. He just didn't want to say it out loud, like admitting it would make it more real.

"This stays between us," Beiste promised. "I won't tell Lipoff that you told me. I won't even tell the other teachers, unless I need to to keep you guys safe. But I know Lipoff's been bullying the whole school since the beginning of the year, even if we haven't been able to find any proof that he's doing most of it. I want to keep an eye out, try to keep it from happening. And that will be a whole lot easier if you tell me what I'm looking for."

Sam took a deep breath, staring at the edge of her desk, because it would be easier to say it if he wasn't looking her in the eye. "There are some rumors. About me and Blaine." When she didn't say anything, he continued, "That we're... together."

"Is that what he was giving you crap about?" Beiste asked. Sam nodded. "He's not going to be able to keep doing that," she said. "I wish I could have punished him more for this, but if I did that, then I would have had to punish you, too. It wouldn't be fair otherwise, especially with you being the one to start it. And I don't think you deserve that."

"I really don't want to get suspended for this," Sam said quickly. Even if it meant that Lipoff got off easier.

"We will get him for something, though," Beiste said.

Personally, Sam doubted that was true. After all, they hadn't even been able to get Karofsky expelled for actually shoving Kurt into a ton of lockers and threatening to kill him. There was no way a few insults and rumors were going to get Lipoff into any serious trouble.

"Do you think these rumors are going to cause any more trouble for you? Not just from Lipoff?"

Again, Sam nodded. The jocks were definitely the worst, but he couldn't help but worry about what else could be coming. And even if nobody else did anything, the staring and disgusted looks were bad enough. Those weren't the types of things Beiste could help with, though, so he kept quiet about that part.

"Don't worry," she said. "I'll see what I can do about the bullies. And either way, these rumors are going to die out in a few weeks, if you can just hold on until then."

"No, they won't," Sam said without thinking, then froze and glanced toward Beiste. She was watching Sam with a curious expression. She didn't ask it, but he knew what she was wondering.

He wasn't sure what made him want to say it. Maybe it was just the way that she was trying to help him out by giving him detentions when she knew it wouldn't affect his rehearsals (even if she acted like she didn't know it) and promising to stop the bullies (even if he didn't exactly believe her). Or the fact that he was still realizing just how bad Lipoff was likely to treat him over this, and that was kind of terrifying. And it looked like she'd already guessed, so all he'd have to do is confirm it. "Uh, I... We..." He started, caught between trying to tell the truth and trying to find a good way to deny it.

"Are any of the rumors true?" she asked, before he could make himself say anything. Somehow, it was easier when he didn't have to be the one to say the words. He nodded, and even managed to do it without feeling sick. "You two make a good couple," she said simply. "You sure that your nose is okay?"

"Yeah, I bet it'll be back to normal by tomorrow," he said. He stood, sensing that the talk was over. She stood as well.

"You come find me if anyone else gives you any trouble," she said.

"I will," he promised, not entirely sure if that was true or not, then walked out the door. He did take his time to make sure she was following him, though. Because he still needed to go back for Blaine's gel, and the last thing he wanted was for someone to show up in the locker room and start this whole mess over again.

* * *

After five minutes, Blaine was starting to get worried. The locker rooms were just a minute's walk from this bathroom, so there was no reason Sam should be taking this long. He pulled out his phone and sent a quick text. _You okay?_ There. Any moment, Sam would send a text back, telling him that he was being paranoid.

A second later, there was a buzzing from Sam's backpack. Of course he didn't have his cell phone with him. Blaine put his own away and went back to pacing, trying to tell himself that it was silly to be so worried. So Sam was taking his time. Big deal.

Except Sam didn't have any reason to linger. Especially not in a locker room. No matter how he tried, Blaine couldn't convince himself that nothing was wrong.

Finally, after another minute had passed, Blaine pushed open the bathroom door and glanced out. There was no one around, so he slowly walked out, trying to resist the urge to cover his head with his hands. This was ridiculous. It wasn't like anyone else was around to see what he looked like. And even if someone was, it wouldn't stop him from going to see what was going on. But he still felt entirely too vulnerable, like the bullies could jump out from behind any corner and start to mock him mercilessly.

Blaine completely expected to meet Sam on the way to the locker room, and the two of them could laugh about how a few minutes of waiting had made Blaine freak out enough to leave the bathroom with his hair in all its unstyled glory. Which is why he was so surprised when he reached the locker room and had seen no sign of him.

"Sam?" Blaine called quietly, walking in. It didn't look like anyone was in there.

His tub of get was lying on the floor, and a few feet away, there was – was that _blood_? Blaine hurried forward, and yes, that was definitely blood on the floor. He stared at it, wondering what the hell had happened and – more importantly – where the hell Sam had gone.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" a familiar voice asked from behind him, and Blaine spun around to see Sam standing there, looking confused.

"What happened?" Blaine demanded. Then he caught sight of Sam's swollen nose, and his eyes widened. "Oh my god, did someone-?"

"He got into a fight with Lipoff," Beiste said from behind Sam. Sam hunched his shoulders, looking sheepish. "Apparently defending your honor."

"Sam!" Blaine shook his head. "No way. That was a terrible idea."

"I couldn't just let him say that about you," Sam protested.

"You shouldn't let yourself get hurt, either," Blaine said, carefully studying Sam for any signs of unseen injuries. Luckily, there didn't seem to be any. "Promise you're not going to do this again."

"Oh, yeah, I don't want to get in trouble again," Sam said. Which wasn't quite the same thing as not getting into fights so that he won't get hurt again, but Blaine will take it. "And I'm fine, by the way. So you can stop looking so worried."

"Not going to happen," Blaine mumbled, reaching down to pick up his gel, trying not to glance at the drops of blood as he did so. "You're sure you're okay?"

"You mean this?" Sam asked, gesturing to his face. "Yeah, it only bled for a minute. Barely even hurts, I promise." It would be a lot more convincing if Sam's voice wasn't as nasally, but Blaine decided not to push it. For now. "Come on, let's go grab our stuff from the bathroom," Sam said. Blaine nodded and followed him out of the locker room.

They walked back in silence. It was kind of driving Blaine crazy. He wanted to demand the whole story, or ask what Sam was thinking, or just say something. But something about the look on Sam's face made Blaine hold back and wait for Sam to speak first. Which was why, when they reached the bathroom, Blaine began to gel his hair in total silence. But by the time he finished almost five minutes later, Sam still hadn't said a word, and Blaine couldn't take it any longer. "What are you thinking?" he asked, setting down his gel and turning toward Sam.

Sam looked up at Blaine, seeming vaguely surprised. "Sorry, I was just... This is going to sound really random. Or maybe not, I don't know."

"What?" Blaine asked.

"I was just thinking about how different it's going to be when this gets out," Sam said slowly, like he was trying to figure out his words as he said them. "It's like, even if they're not being mean about it, I just get the feeling that they're going to be looking at me differently."

"Some of them do," Blaine admitted. "Not most of them. A lot of people just don't care one way or another, unless you're being obvious about it. Then there are a lot of dirty looks." It was something he'd gotten used to, for the most part. But Sam had never had to.

"I think I get why you want to go to New York so badly," Sam said. "I mean, I was thinking before that I'd like going there just because you're going to be there, but now I'm thinking that I'd actually like to go there, and not just for you. It'd be nice to be someplace accepting."

As worried as Blaine still was about Sam and the bullies, he couldn't help but grin when he heard that. "Does that mean you're for sure going to Pratt?" That was an art school in New York that Blaine had helped Sam apply to a couple months ago.

"Yeah," Sam said, managing a grin of his own. "If I get in, that is."

"You will," Blaine said at once. "How can they not accept you after they see that amazing portfolio? And your essay is _incredible_, if I do say so myself."

That got a chuckle out of Sam. "You would think that, since you're the one who helped me write it."

Blaine couldn't resist leaning over and hugging Sam, very carefully pressing a kiss against his cheek, making sure not to bump his nose at all. "Think about it. A few months from now, we'll be living in New York and all the Lima homophobes will be behind us."

Sam wrapped his arms around Blaine, pulling him closer. "I like the sound of that a lot," he said. "Think our parents will still let us get an apartment together even if we're dating?"

"You think they could stop us?" Blaine asked with a smile, though he knew that Sam would do anything to make his parents happy. "I bet we can convince them," Blaine added, pulling back just enough that he could look Sam in the eye. "Think you can make it for a few more months?" he asked, thinking of all the bullying they'd already gone through, and this was only the beginning.

Sam still smiled, but his eyes looked worried. Even so, he didn't hesitate to lean forward and kiss Blaine's cheek the way Blaine had kissed his. "I think I'm going to have to."

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**I know very little about injuries, so all of the information in this chapter comes from the Internet. Then again, so does all of Sam's knowledge, so hopefully it'll be okay even if I did make a mistake. Still, if you ever notice anything factually wrong about my chapters, feel free to point it out to me so I can hopefully fix it in future chapters!**

**The Pratt Institute is an actual art school in New York. I first saw it mentioned by the author SageK, who often uses it as Sam's schools in her stories. If you haven't read her stories, then that should be the very next thing on your list, because she is by far one of my favorite authors. A very brief look at the Pratt Institute website made it seem like this wouldn't actually be a good school for Sam (it requires your SAT score and the admission deadline is before the Naked episode took place, so Sam would have missed it) but for the purpose of this story, I'm going to pretend that it works, okay? :)**


	16. Chapter 16

**As always, thank you to my beta, Tuuzmorado!**

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Now that Sam had pointed it out, Blaine could feel the stares.

The two of them were walking down to the gym. Blaine was heading to Sue's office to break the news about his ruined uniform before practice began, and Sam was going to Beiste's office for his first detention. Sam was currently explaining some new idea for their audition song – something about both of them singing the opening lines, but making Sam's voice quieter than Blaine's so it was more like backup vocals. And Blaine was nodding along, more because Sam was so enthusiastic about the idea than because he really understood what Sam was staying. But all the while, he could tell that people were glancing at them. Laughing. A few of them looked disgusted.

It probably didn't help that, for the first time in weeks, Blaine was in regular clothes. That alone was enough to draw attention, and about half the Cheerio squad had confronted him at lunch to demand to know what had happened. Not that he'd told them the truth.

Although, the Cheerios weren't nearly as intimidating as the New Directions. The moment they'd seen Sam's face at lunch, everyone had swarmed around him, demanding to know who had done it. Blaine had been the one to explain what had happened while Sam sat there looking uncomfortable with all the attention. There had been a lot of insults directed at Lipoff, but once Sam assured everyone that he was fine and Lipoff had gotten three times as many detentions, everyone had slowly begun to talk about other things. Still, Sam hadn't completely relaxed the whole time they were talking, even after the attention had turned to the upcoming auditions.

Sam hadn't told the club the reason for the fight. Well, he'd said that Lipoff had slushied and insulted Blaine, but he hadn't mentioned any of the rumors. Blaine could tell that most of them had guessed it, though.

"So? What do you think?" Sam asked, grinning at Blaine.

"Uh, I love that idea. It's great," Blaine said quickly.

Sam snorted. "Knew you weren't paying attention. I just told you that you should skip the gel for your audition, and I know you didn't actually agree to that for real."

Blaine winced. "Sorry," he said. "There's a lot on my mind."

"No problem," Sam said, still smiling. Right then, one of the jocks walked by them, sneering in their direction as he did. At least he didn't say (or throw) anything, but it was still hurtful. And Blaine could tell that Sam had seen it, too. His grin didn't slip, but it did become much more forced. Still, any smile was an improvement on the way he'd looked earlier. Blaine was just glad that Sam's optimistic personality prevented him from staying freaked out about anything for too long. It was obvious that Sam was still worried, and still watching everyone else in the hallway like he expected them to jump at him any second. But at least he'd calmed enough to joke around. "Worried about talking to Sue?" Sam asked.

"Yeah," Blaine said quickly, because that was much better than explaining the real reason. If Sam was able to cheer up a little after receiving the worst of it, then the last thing Blaine needed to do was remind him of it. And Blaine _was_ pretty nervous about the Sue thing.

"I told you, she won't actually shave your head," Sam said, like they weren't talking about the woman who had put cement in Blaine's hair just to make him join the Cheerios. Blaine highly doubted that she had any scruples.

"Guess I've got to go find out," Blaine said as they reached Sue's office.

"Oh, can I have the keys?" Sam asked. They had agreed earlier that Sam might as well take Blaine's car every day after school this week, since Blaine wasn't going to be able to use it, anyway. Blaine quickly tossed them to Sam, who caught them easily and stuffed them in his pocket. "See you when you're done with practice."

"See you," Blaine echoed, then knocked on the door.

Sue didn't answer, even though Blaine knew that she must be in there, since practice didn't start for ten minutes. He knocked again, but there was still no response. After a moment, he pushed the door open. "Couch Sue?"

"Well, if it isn't the midget who made himself my enemy by stealing my choreography," she said without looking up from what she was writing, and Blaine winced at the reminder of the incident last week. So far, she hadn't made good on her promise to do more to destroy the glee club, besides rescheduling her practices to conflict with rehearsal, but he had the feeling that she had something much worse planned. It was only a matter of when she would reveal it. "What could possibly be important enough to make you interrupt me while I'm busy writing a poetic list of all the ways in which Schuester's hair resembles a bird's nest to submit to the school literary magazine?"

He cleared his throat nervously. "There was a problem with my uniform."

That caught her attention. Her head snapped up, her eyes locking on him. "The problem is that you're not wearing it."

Blaine wasn't sure how to explain, so he just pulled the uniform from his bag and laid it on her desk.

Sue's face went completely still. She slowly stood, her eyes not leaving the stained fabric for a moment. It was impossible to tell how mad she was, and Blaine braced himself to dodge anything that she might throw at him.

"I'm really sorry," he said. "I know that the contract says what you're allowed to do if I ruined a uniform, but please think about how ridiculous I'll look if I don't have hair for the competition. It really would be better for you to-"

"Anderson," she said, cutting him off. He stopped, staring at her in surprise. He was pretty sure that was the first time she'd ever called him by his real name. "I want to know who did this to you, and I want to know now."

"It was Lipoff and a few of his friends. I didn't see who," he said, trying to figure out what this was about. Her face gave nothing away. It was still the same cold, furious mask. "Why do you want to know?" he finally asked.

She looked up at him. "Nobody messes with my squad without being punished."

"He already got three weeks of detention," Blaine said, not mentioning that the punishment had been for fighting, not for the slushy.

"Irrelevant," Sue said.

Blaine still wasn't entirely sure what had brought this on, but this was a much better reaction than he'd dared to hope for. He almost felt like he shouldn't say anything and risk ruining it, but he had to ask. "Last week, you declared me your enemy and said that you'd do anything to destroy the Glee club. Why are you defending me now? Shouldn't you punish me for this or something in a way that will hurt our chances at Regionals?" Not that he should be giving her ideas.

"Honestly, well-groomed gay, I couldn't care less about the survival of your singing therapy group," she said. There was something about her voice and inflection that made her sound more serious than normal. "In fact, I plan on actively destroying it in any way that I can. I have spent entire nights just fantasizing about the looks on all your little faces when you realize that your dreams have all been crushed. But this-" she gestured down to the uniform "-was not an attack on the glee club. This was an attack on one of my Cheerios. You may have been blackmailed into this, and I may have only wanted you on my squad so that I could laugh at your kicked-puppy expression every time I tell you what complete and utter crap your singing is, but that doesn't change the fact that you belong to me."

"Thank you," Blaine said after a moment, since he wasn't sure what else he could say. He still wasn't entirely sure what she was saying, but he was fine with anything that involved keeping his hair.

"Is there anything else you have to talk about?" When he shook his head, she sat back behind her desk and unceremoniously swept the uniform to the floor, picking up her pencil so she could begin writing again. "Then kindly remove yourself from my presence before the scent of your hair gel forces me to vomit on your face."

He hurried out of the office, closing the door on the way out, still wondering how this had happened.

The rest of the squad was already gathered in the gym when Blaine got there, most of them sitting on the floor to stretch. He found Brittany sitting over to one side, reaching forward to grab her toes. "Want some help?" he asked, coming up beside her. Part of him wasn't sure if she'd want him around. After all, she might have put two and two together and figured out why Sam had broken up with her. If that was the case, he wouldn't be surprised if she told him to go away.

But of course she wouldn't do that. This was Brittany. She smiled at him and nodded. He took his seat across from her, their legs straight and feet touching, then grabbed her hands and pulled her forward to stretch out her back. "How are you doing?" he asked. "About the Sam thing, I mean. Sorry I didn't ask you earlier."

"Did Sam's face get broken?" she asked, leaning back so that Blaine was the one who had to lean forward. His back burned a little at the stretch.

"I don't think so," Blaine said. "He swears he didn't hear a crack, so it's probably fine."

"Oh, good," Brittany said. "I was going to buy some super glue to help put the bones together, but I guess I don't need to do that anymore."

Blaine smiled. "No, he's okay," he said. "And are you okay?"

"I didn't want to break up with him," she said quietly. "But he didn't want to date me, so I guess there was nothing we could do. That's what Santana said, anyway. She also called him a bunch of names and said that I was worth ten of him, but I don't think I'm supposed to repeat that part."

Yeah, Blaine could imagine the kinds of things that Santana would say about anyone who hurt Brittany's feelings, especially if she had still been crying when she called Santana.

"I don't think I want to talk to him until it stops hurting," Brittany said. "But Santana did say that we can do lady kisses next time we see each other and her new sex buddy won't care, even though we have the same plumbing. So that's good."

"It'll be okay," Blaine said, moving into a splits next, then reaching for one of his feet to stretch even further. "It hurts for a while, but eventually the pain just dies away until there's nothing left."

"And you know that because of Kurt," Brittany said, nodding. After a moment, she asked, "Is this what it's like for you all the time? Being in love with Sam without him loving you back?"

Blaine just hummed, deciding not to answer one way or another.

"Sorry," she said. "That must hurt you, too."

Blaine was going to come up with an answer, but before he could, Becky walked into the gym and blew Sue's whistle. "Okay, losers!" she screamed at the squad. "Sue has some business to take care of, so she told me to make you run laps until she got done. And don't you dare stop, or there's going to be trouble."

Blaine climbed to his feet, holding out one hand to pull Brittany up. "How long do you think it'll be until Sue gets here?" he asked. If this had to do with the Lipoff thing, than she could be a while.

"We'll be running all night," Brittany said as the started to jog, then suddenly looked excited. "If we all run on the same spot for the next few hours, are we going to wear a path in the ground?"

Blaine snorted. "I wouldn't be surprised." He knew it wouldn't actually happen, but with all the laps that Sue made them do, it really wouldn't be a shock.

"Less talking, more running," Becky called, and Blaine and Brittany quickly picked up the pace. After the first five minutes passed with no sign of Sue, he resigned himself to a very boring, exhausting practice.


	17. Chapter 17

**So sorry that this chapter is so late! There were some real life things happening that made it impossible to get this chapter up any sooner. Thankfully, Tuuzmorado was awesome (as always) about getting the chapter beta'd as soon as she could, but I really didn't give her much time, and even after she responded, I had some commitments that prevented me from getting it posted before now. Hopefully the chapter is good enough to make up for that. :)**

**Because I'm posting this so late, there isn't going to be a chapter tomorrow like there normally would be. So chapter 18 isn't going to be posted until Saturday (in my time zone). Again, sorry for that!**

* * *

"Hey," Sam said as Blaine slid into the passenger seat after practice that night. He casually tossed Blaine a McDonalds bag. "Sorry I couldn't get anything healthier. I kind of lost track of time and had to grab something quick."

"You are officially the best person ever," Blaine said as he buckled himself in and reached for the bag. After five hours of Cheerio madness, Blaine would eat anything. Besides, after all the laps Becky had made them run, he could use some junk food. "How did your first detention with Beiste go?"

Sam shrugged as he pulled out of the parking lot. "It was okay. She asked me some more questions about which of Lipoff's friends had slushied me, then let me do my homework most of the time. When I got that done, she had me organize some equipment in the big storage closet, but that's it."

"Could have been a lot worse," Blaine said. Thank god for teachers who actually seemed to care.

"What about you?" Sam asked. "How did Sue react?"

"Surprisingly, not bad." Blaine took another bite and frowned as he thought about that. "It's strange. If I hadn't joined the Cheerios, I bet she wouldn't care less about me getting slushied. But because I'm part of the squad, she said that she won't let him get away with it. She didn't even show up for practice. Becky just make us run laps and do exercises the whole night." Which may have been even more exhausting than performing the routine a thousand times in a row like they normally did.

"Hey, don't question it," Sam said. "That's way better than you were expecting!"

"Oh, yeah," Blaine agreed, though he couldn't help but worry a little about what exactly Sue had planned. There was no way she'd miss practice this close to the competition unless something big was about to happen. He covered his mouth as a giant yawn split his face. "I'm going to be so glad when the competition is over and we won't have to practice anymore."

"Mind if I drive the car home tonight?" Sam asked. "That was I can drop you off at your house instead of you having to drop me off at mine."

"Yeah, sure," Blaine mumbled. About then, he didn't really care what went on, as long as it involved him getting home and falling into bed soon.

Sam seemed to sense that Blaine was too tired to really hold a conversation, because he smiled and turned on the radio, quietly singing along to a few of the songs. Blaine hummed happily at the sound of his voice, trying to snuggle into the seat so he could fall asleep right there.

"We're here, dude," Sam said, and Blaine blinked in surprised, wondering how they could have possibly gotten there so soon. He didn't even remember the car ride passing, but they were in his driveway, just like Sam said. Blaine must have actually drifted off. "See you tomorrow, dude."

"See you," Blaine echoed, climbing out of the car and heading into the house. Just a few more minutes and he'd be able to fall into bed.

"Blaine? Can I talk to you?"

Or not. Blaine turned toward his dad, surprised. They didn't normally see each other on school nights. Not that they saw too much of each other on weekends, either, but it was a slightly-more-common occurrence then. "Can it wait?" Blaine asked through another yawn. "I swear we had to run about ten miles at practice today. I really just want to go upstairs."

"It won't take long," Dad said, motioning for Blaine to follow him into the living room. Which Blaine reluctantly did. Dad sat on the couch, and Blaine dropped into the uncomfortable wooden chair that they only kept around because it looked nice. If he sat on anything cushioned right then, he was worried that he'd fall asleep before his dad even said a word.

"So," Dad said, clapping his hands together awkwardly. For someone who insisted on speaking right then, he didn't seem to have any idea what he was saying. "Cheerleading still going well?"

Blaine blinked, slightly surprised that his dad even knew what sport he was doing. Now that he thought of it, of course Dad would know – Blaine had spent over a month now walking around in that uniform. But still, he hadn't been entirely sure that Dad would notice. "Yeah. Our competition if this weekend. We're probably going to win this year." Like Sue would settle for anything less than first place.

"Good, good," Dad said. Blaine waited for more. There was no way that Dad had brought him in here just to make small talk about the Cheerios. After a moment, it came. "I met Sam this morning."

Blaine frowned. "Yeah, he told me."

"He seems like a... like a nice kid," Dad said. "Very, uh, polite."

"He's great," Blaine said slowly. "What is this about?" It wasn't like this was the first time Blaine had had a friend sleep over. Last year the guys had liked to have video game marathons at his house all the time, since Mike's dad didn't like to have people over that much, Puck's house wasn't that big, and if they went to Finn's house, Blaine would always bail after the first fifteen minutes so he could hang out with Kurt. Not to mention that most of the girls invited themselves over to his house whenever they wanted. It wasn't like Dad had ever wanted to talk about any of them, so what had changed?

"Good to hear that," Dad said, ignoring Blaine's question. He fiddled with his watch and glanced around the room, looking uncomfortable. Now Blaine was starting to get worried. "This hasn't been the easiest year for you, I know. Breaking up with that other boy, your ex. And I heard from your mom that you had some girl trouble? And you've been busy with a ton of clubs, and keeping your grades up. College applications haven't exactly been easy, either, plus you-"

"Dad," Blaine interrupted, before Dad could go on a full-out rant about all the problems Blaine had had, as if he didn't already know them. "Again, what is this about?"

Dad sighed. "Okay, I'll just come out and say it," he said. "You've got a lot of stress going on, but that doesn't mean that you can disobey the rules, alright? And one of those rules is no... significant others are allowed to spend the night."

Blaine choked, finally getting it. "Sam's not my boyfriend," he said quickly. Why did his dad even suspect that? Well, Blaine knew the reasons _why_ – like the fact that Sam had slept in his bed. But honestly, Blaine had expected his dad to keep denying that Blaine was with another boy no matter how much evidence was thrown his way. That had certainly been his method with Kurt.

"Don't make it worse by lying," Dad said, giving Blaine a look that made him shrink a little in his chair. Dad tended to fumble around and not know what to do about the whole parenting thing, but when he got strict, he could make Blaine feel two inches tall in two seconds flat. "We enforced this rule with Cooper, and we're going to enforce it with you, too. Now, with your brother, I swear we were chasing girls out of his bedroom every other night." Yeah, that sounded like Cooper. Even back before his stupid commercials, he'd had the ability to charm girls' pants off. "But we've never had that problem with you before."

That was only because he and Kurt had been very good at sneaking around. Kurt had usually spent the night when Dad was away, and the few times that Dad was home, they'd made sure to wake up early so that they could be dressed and in the kitchen by the time Dad came down. Mom had caught them a few times, but apparently she'd decided not to share that with her husband.

"Nothing happened," Blaine said. "We're just friends, and he decided to share my room because we were both exhausted and fell asleep without bothering to move." At least, that's what Blaine had done. He assumed that Sam had done the same, but even if he hadn't, this was still the story he was going to tell his dad. Of course, it didn't much matter what he said, because he could tell that his dad wasn't buying it. "Why is that so hard to believe?" he demanded.

"It's not that I don't want to believe you," Dad said. "Believe me, I'd be very happy if you were telling the truth. But you have to admit, you're not being very convincing."

"How could I not be convincing if I'm telling the truth?" Blaine demanded. Well, there was the fact that his and Sam's relationship was a lot more complicated than he was going to tell his dad about. But they weren't dating yet, so his dad should buy that.

"I mean, if Cooper had a girl spend the night in his bed, we'd all know what was going on, even if they denied it," Dad continued. Blaine just sighed, giving up on convincing his dad otherwise. Let him think whatever he wanted. And now Blaine would probably get punished for breaking that stupid rule, even though he hadn't.

"What I want to know," Dad said slowly after a minute's pause, "Why didn't you ever tell us about Sam?"

Blaine blinked. That was about the last thing he'd expected. "What?"

"You told us when you started dating that other kid – Kurt, right?" When Blaine nodded, Dad continued, "I would've liked a little notice before some boy I've never met starts staying over."

"He's stayed over plenty of times before," Blaine said, wincing at how sour his voice was, but not quite able to help it. "As friends," he added quickly, before his dad could get upset. "Which is all we are now. Mom's pretty much been trying to get him to date me ever since he came over to exchange Christmas presents last December." If there was one thing Sam was good at, it was winning over parents. Two minutes, and Mom had been pretty much ready to let him move in. "And he comes over almost every weekend."

Blaine left it unsaid that Dad would have already met Sam if he was around more. That part was obvious enough that even Dad would pick up on it.

Dad just nodded, not looking concerned. "You should, ah, invite him over for dinner sometime."

Blaine frowned, honestly not understanding what his dad was implying. "He's come over before. You just weren't there."

"I mean when I am there," Dad said, a hint of annoyance creeping into his tone. "If you're going to spend time with this boy, I want to meet him – even if he's just a friend." From the way he said that last word, it was obvious that he still didn't buy it, though he'd decided not to push it further.

"You want to meet him," Blaine repeated, wincing at how stupid that sounded. And he probably should have picked up on that immediately, but this honestly never would have occurred to him. "Why? I dated Kurt for a year and a half and you never asked to have him over." They had met, of course, when Mom invited Kurt to dinner and Dad had shown up and been surprised at the company. That had turned into the most uncomfortably dinner of his life, bar none. After that, Blaine had made a point of going over to Kurt's for dinner instead of inviting him over. And Kurt certainly hadn't complained.

"I want to meet him," Dad repeated, which didn't really answer Blaine's question. "Pick a day, alright? Then make sure to tell me in advanced so I can be there."

With that, Dad stood and left the room. Blaine only waited a moment before getting up and heading to his room. He still didn't understand, but whatever was going on with Dad, it could wait until morning.

Blaine did take the time to check his cell phone before going to bed, just in case he'd missed any messages while he was in practice. There were two new texts from Jeremiah. The first was the words _I did it_ and about twenty smiley faces. The second was a picture of a guy holding his hand in front of his face. Blaine wasn't entirely sure if he was trying to hide from the camera or purposely showing off the sliver ring on his fourth finger.

Blaine grinned, dropping down on his bed and taking a closer look at the guy in the picture. He didn't really look like Blaine had expected. For one, his blonde hair was streaked with blue, and his lip was pierced. Yeah, definitely different than what Blaine had pictured as Jeremiah's type. If he'd had to guess, Blaine would have said Jeremiah's boyfriend would be kind of preppy (though he blushed to admit that he only thought that because of all the times Jeremiah had complimented Blaine's style two years ago). But the guy in the picture was dressed nicely, and had a really cute smile. Not to mention that the way he was peeking at the camera through his fingers was adorable in a way that you didn't normally associate with a guy with dyed hair and piercings. All in all, he looked pretty cool. Blaine looked forward to meeting him, if Jeremiah had been serious about that double date.

Blaine thought about calling up and asking for details, but decided not to bother them when they were probably celebrating. Instead, he texted _Tell me everything!_ Then, figuring that he wouldn't get a response until morning, he headed off to get ready for bed.

* * *

"Maybe this is a good thing!" Sam whispered the next day. They were sitting in the auditorium, watching everyone else perform while waiting for their turn to audition, and Blaine had just filled him in about the talk with his dad. Right now, Mr. Schue was talking to Tina about her song (which had been awesome), so everyone could talk without interrupting a performance. But Sam still wanted to stay quiet so he wouldn't disturb them.

Blaine snorted. "Like how?" he asked. "Dad probably wants to intimidate you so that you won't want to date me anymore."

"Not going to happen," Sam said immediately. He was pretty sure of that, after spending a whole morning with Lipoff glaring at him every time they passed in the hallways. If anything was going to scare Sam off, he was pretty sure that was it, but here he was, sitting next to Blaine, the two of them leaning towards each other and Sam was still totally in love with Blaine. Compared to the McKinley stuff, Mr. Anderson would be easy to deal with.

"Anyway, maybe he honestly wants to meet your boyfriend," Sam said, his voice instinctively dropping on the last word, even though he was already talking quietly enough that Blaine had to bring his ear next to Sam's mouth in order to hear. Not that Sam was ever going to complain about Blaine getting close to him. "From the sound of it, he kind of sucked about you dating Kurt. Maybe he's trying to make up for that."

"Yeah, and maybe he hasn't been trying to set me up with girls since I was thirteen," Blaine said dismissively. "Now hush," he added as Artie and Kitty took the stage.

Sam was surprised to see them singing together. When exactly had that happened? But however it had come about, they were really good together, way better than Sam would've expected. Blaine was still going to do the best, though. Still, Sam was one of the first on his feet when they were finished, giving them a standing ovation.

Well, Sam had given everyone a standing ovation, so it wasn't that unusual. But they all deserved it!

"Very good," Mr. Schue said. "Sam, Blaine, you're up next."

Blaine led the way onto the stage, Sam following behind. On the way up, Sam touched Blaine's arm, then leaned forward and whispered, "You can tell them." At Blaine's questioning look, Sam added, "Your parents. You can, uh, tell them we're dating."

Sam had been thinking during the last song, and had reached a conclusion. Maybe he was being too optimistic, but he really did think that Mr. Anderson was trying to be a good dad, even if Blaine didn't believe it. Of course, Sam could be wrong, but he really hoped that he wasn't. And even if he was, it wasn't like they could keep it from their parents forever. They had to tell them sometime, and Sam wasn't sure if he was ready to bring it up with his parents – never mind that he knew they'd be accepting about it. Better to start with the parents he didn't know as well, and work his way up to telling his own.

That didn't make him feel any less sick at the thought. But this was different than telling people at McKinley, right? It wasn't like the Andersons would throw slushies in their faces, and Mrs. Anderson would be happy, so it should be fine. And anyway, Blaine would be the one to actually tell them, which was a whole lot easier than Sam saying it. He was selfishly happy about that, even though it wasn't fair to put this on Blaine.

Blaine made a face. "You do realize that if I say that, my dad is going to be convinced that we had sex on Monday night?"

"Oh." Sam hadn't quite thought of that. Maybe it was better not to tell him. At least not for a while.

"I hate to hurry you along, but we have to get through three more songs before the end of lunch," Mr. Schue said, and Sam and Blaine hurried to get set up.

They'd decided to each get a stool and set it up on opposite sides of the stage, with mike stands in front of them. Sam grabbed his guitar and absentmindedly strummed it as he took his seat. Blaine had talked to the guys who did the lighting for the musical, who had agreed to help them out for their audition (mostly because they spent every lunch in the lighting booth, anyway). Sure enough, after a moment that whole auditorium darkened. Sam started to play, the music spreading through the completely-black room.

The spotlight came up on Blaine a second before he began to sing. Those lighting guys were good.

_I said remember this moment  
In the back of my mind  
The times we stood with our shaking hands  
The crowds and stands went wild  
We were the kings and the queens  
And they read off our names  
The night you danced like you knew  
Our lives would never be the same_

Sam smiled at the sound of Blaine's voice. Maybe he was a little biased (just a tad bit), but he thought Blaine had the best voice in the New Directions. As Blaine finished his last line, the spotlight came up on Sam, who leaned toward the microphone for his own part.

_You held your head like a hero  
On a history book page  
It was the end of a decade  
But the start of an age_

Sam glanced across the stage and saw that Blaine was smiling just as wide. Sam felt his grin grow as he transitioned straight into the second verse, still singing solo, though Blaine was adding backup vocals now.

_I said remember this feeling  
I pass the pictures around  
Of all the years that we stood there  
On the sidelines  
Wishing for right now_

Sam thought of the slushy attacks, the jeers in the hallways, everything that the New Directions had gone through. Then he thought of standing on that stage in New York last year of being announced as the winners, and put all of those emotions into his voice as he sang straight at the group.

_We are the kings and the queens  
You traded your baseball cap for a crown  
When they gave us our trophies  
And we held them up for up our town_

Blaine pulled his microphone off the stand and jumped from his seat, bouncing along the front of the stage in the space between him and Sam as he sang his part. Which Sam thought was a very good idea. Sam would be just as happy sitting in one spot and letting his voice do the work, but Blaine? He owned the stage every time he stepped onto it, and sitting just didn't do him justice.

_And the cynics were outraged  
Screaming this is absurd  
'Cause for a moment a band of thieves  
In ripped-up jeans  
Got to rule the world_

Sam added his voice to Blaine as they reached the chorus, though he knew every eye would be on Blaine, who was still near the front of the stage, singing with so much conviction that it was obvious he believed in every word. Like they really were on top of the world, and Blaine knew it.

_Long live the walls we crashed through  
How the kingdom lights shined just for me and you  
I was screaming long live all the magic we made  
Bring on all the pretenders  
I'm not afraid_

By now, Blaine had made it over to Sam's side of the stage. He casually tossed his microphone toward Tina, who was sitting in the front row, and grabbed Blaine's microphone stand, the two of singing into one mic like they'd done during "Heroes".

_Long live all the mountains we moved  
I had the time of my life fighting dragons with you  
I was screaming long live the look on your face  
And bring on all the pretenders one day  
We will be remembered  
Hold on, spinning around  
Confetti falls to the ground  
May these memories break our fall_

Sam looked at Blaine, their eyes meeting as the song slowed.

_You take a moment  
Promise me this  
That you'll stand by me forever  
But if, God forbid, fate should step in_

Sam was almost whispering the lyrics. Blaine wasn't much louder. Neither of them looked away.

_And force us into a goodbye  
If you have children someday_

Tina and some of the other girls were singing backup for them now. Sam didn't look away from Blaine to see who those other girls were, but they sounded incredibly good. Their voices added an almost-hypnotic quality to the song. Maybe that was why Sam was starting to choke up at the lyrics, when he'd been fine every time they'd sung through the song before.

_When they point to the pictures  
Please tell them my name_

Sam suddenly flashed back to Nationals last year, when Finn and Rachel kissed. He'd bet that this was a lot like how they'd been looking at each other then. And he suddenly understood why they'd done it.

_Tell them how the crowd went wild  
Tell them how I hope they shine_

Sam paused for a second too long, hardly even blinking, just caught up in Blaine. Then he remembered himself and launched into the chorus.

_Long live the walls we crashed through  
I had the time of my life  
With you_

The song sped up, and it was like whatever spell they'd been under was broken. Blaine went back to being all enthusiastic and exciting, putting everything into final chorus, while Sam did his best not to forget the notes. Somehow, all the staring he and Blaine had done had made his brain go all fuzzy. Still, they got through the chorus just fine. Better than fine, actually. Blaine sounded incredible, and Sam knew their voices were awesome when they mixed together.

They reached the end. Sam strummed the last chords and let Blaine take the last line all by himself, which he sang with so much confidence that it was impossible not to believe him.

_We will be remembered_

The notes faded, and the whole Glee club was on their feet in a second, cheering like crazy. It wasn't any different than the applause that everyone else had gotten, but Sam still grinned and bumped shoulders with Blaine, who laughed, his face completely open and happy in the way that it always was after he performed.

"Good job, you two," Mr. Schue said. He'd been saying the same thing to everyone, probably not wanting to play favorites (or reveal who his favorites were), but Sam knew they'd given a great performance. They were totally going to get a song. He just knew it.

Blaine and Sam quickly put their stools away, then headed down to sit in the audience while Ryder, Joe, and Jake got ready for their song (apparently they'd decided to aim for getting the solos in the group number). "Thanks for helping us out," Blaine said as he took the mic back from Tina and handed is up to Ryder. Sam shot his a thumbs up for good luck, which Ryder returned with a grin before rejoining the other two guys.

"No problem," Tina said. She was smiling, which was kind of a surprise. Then again, her behavior around Blaine was always kind of weird. "But you have to make it up to me if my backup vocals win you the song over me."

Blaine chuckled. "You got it," he said. "We're hanging out next week, right? I'll make it my treat?"

Tina raised her eyebrows. "Already assuming that you got the solo?" she asked, and she and Sam both laughed at the way Blaine's eyes widened and he hurried to explain that that wasn't what he was implying. "Anyway, you don't have to treat," Tina said, motioning for him to sit next to her.

Blaine did, and Sam took the seat next to him. "No, but I could," Blaine offered, pulling out his cell phone and checking it. Which was something he'd been doing all day whenever he had a spare moment.

"What are you doing?" Sam asked, lowering his voice because the guys looked ready to start their song soon.

"Waiting for a text from Jeremiah," Blaine whispered back. "They old friend that I met up with at the mall? He proposed to his boyfriend last night and I'm waiting for details."

"Wait, are you talking about Yoshiro's friend?" Tina asked. "You two know each other?"

"Long story," Blaine mumbled, and Sam tried his best not to laugh. Blaine had shared the Gap Attack story with him a couple of days after the mall trip, and Sam still found it the funniest thing ever. He could see why Blaine didn't want to tell the rest of the glee club, though. "Oh, he responded."

"What did he say?" Sam asked, curious even though he didn't actually know Jeremiah. But the guy seemed pretty cool, from what Blaine had said about him.

The guys did start singing then, so Blaine couldn't answer, but a second later Sam felt the phone being pressed into his hand. He couldn't read it during the song, though. It'd be rude, and Sam couldn't exactly be subtle about it, considering how long it took him to read anything. But as soon as the song was over, and the applause had died out, Sam looked down at the text. _Coffee next week to talk about it? We can bring our guys! (though you still haven't said if Sam likes you back)_

Sam handed the phone back to Blaine. "Sounds fun," he said. "Just tell me when."

"Cool," Blaine said with a smile. "I wasn't sure if you'd want to." He glanced around. Tina was turned around, deep in conversation with Brittany and not paying them any attention. "They're going to ask if we're dating, you know. He keeps bringing it up."

Oh, right. Somehow, Sam hadn't quite thought of that. But Blaine looked really excited about going to talk to this Jeremiah guy, and he obviously wanted Sam to meet him, too.

"I, uh, guess we'll figure it out when we get there," Sam said. If he was a good almost-boyfriend, he would have promised to tell Jeremiah that yes, they were (kind of) dating, but Sam didn't. Still, maybe by next week he'd be able to. A week was a long time, and he'd just told Blaine to tell his parents, and wasn't this the kind of thing that got easier each time you said it? Anyway, Sam had already told Kurt and Adam about wanting to date Blaine. Somehow, it wasn't as hard to say when you weren't going to see the people every day.

Blaine's smile grew as the lights dimmed for Marley and Unique's song. Clearly Sam and Blaine hadn't been the only ones to take advantage of the light crew's willingness to help. Sam glanced around, just to make sure nobody would be able to see them. Then he reached for Blaine's hand, twining their fingers together as the singing began.

_Everybody's looking for that something  
One thing that makes it all complete_

The two of them stayed like that, stealing glances every few seconds, even though they could hardly see each other in the darkness. They didn't pull away until the song ended and they had to turn back to the stage and clap for the girls.

* * *

**The songs used in this chapter are "Long Live" by Taylor Swift and "Flying Without Wings", which was originally by Westlife, though I listened to the cover by Ruben Studdard when I wrote this. I know some people aren't that fond of song fics, so I'd greatly appreciate feedback on how I wrote this chapter, for future reference. If you could take a moment to tell me if you liked this style or not, I'd be incredibly grateful! :)**


	18. Chapter 18

**Much love to my beta, Tuuzmorado, as always!**

**Also, I'd like to thank everyone who has read/reviewed this story. I reply to all of them that I can, but I want to say it again, because I really do appreciate the feedback, no matter how long or short the review is. :) I was especially grateful to hear your thoughts on the songfic style in the last chapter. So, if you're reading this, then thank you so much!**

* * *

"Who do you think will get the solos?" Sam whispered, leaning toward Blaine.

Blaine glanced toward the front of the room, where Mr. Schue was explaining the conjugations of the new irregular verbs they were learning. This meant that they could talk freely, as long as they didn't get too loud. Mr. Schue was a great teacher and all, but he wasn't always the most observant when it came to what was happening in his classroom (or anywhere else, really). He and Sam were all too happy to take advantage of this almost every day during Spanish.

"I don't know," he whispered back, in complete honesty. He tilted his head, thinking it over for a minute. "I think Marley and Unique did the best."

"Except for us?" Sam asked with a grin.

Blaine snorted and nodded. "Okay, we did the best," he said jokingly. Though, in all seriousness, Sam had sounded amazing on that song. Maybe Blaine was biased, but he did think Sam had one of the best voices – maybe even the best. He hadn't had as much training as Jake or Marley, and he wasn't big on the over-the-top numbers that a lot of the club preferred, but when he sang something soft and slow and beautiful... Wow, just wow.

Not to mention that the guitar was dead sexy, but that wasn't the kind of thing Blaine wanted to think about in a crowded classroom.

"You want my serious opinion?" Blaine asked. When Sam nodded, he said, "I think we'll get one... That could be wishful thinking on my part, though. And I definitely think Marley will, too." At least, he hoped she would. After what happened at Sectionals, he knew that she felt like she needed to "redeem" herself, and performing at Regionals was probably the only way she could do it. (Not that anyone else was holding her fainting against her, but she felt like they were. Or, so Kitty had told him, and she seemed to know these things.) "Jake and Unique have great voices, too. So does Tina. God, I hope she gets a solo, and not just because she'll throw a fit if she doesn't. She really deserves one. Oh, and Artie's a senior, and he's been in it from the beginning, so he should-"

"Basically, you want the whole club to get the solos?" Sam asked, looking amused.

"Can they?" Blaine asked. Then he shook his head. "I'm just glad I'm not the one who has to make the decision." He'd never be able to do it. He hated disappointing people.

"You think Mr. Schue already knows what he's doing?" Sam asked, glancing toward the front of the room. Mr. Schue was pointing enthusiastically at the board, saying something in rapid Spanish that he apparently expected his students to understand. "Should I ask him? Maybe after class?"

"Sam, he's only had an hour to think about it," Blaine reminded him with a laugh, though secretly he felt the same. Forget about waiting; he wanted to know who was going to get to sing! If he was being honest, there were times when he missed the Dalton days when he just knew that the solos were going to him. Of course, he liked McKinley a whole lot more, but still. Being the soloist was nice. "He said he'd announce the winners at club on Friday, so just be patient, okay?"

"Oh, like you're not about to rip his head off if he doesn't tell us soon," Sam said.

"Okay, maybe I'm a little excited," Blaine admitted. "Just a little."

Sam snorted. "Dude, you're the biggest solo hog I've ever met. And it's awesome," he added quickly. "I mean, you deserve a ton of solos. All I'm saying is that you probably want this more than I do, which is saying something because I'd really like to sing with you. You're not going to make it to Friday."

Blaine narrowed his eyes. "That's pretty offensive, Sam," he said in the flattest voice he could manage. "You're saying I care too much about solos? Like I'm stealing the spotlight from everyone else?"

"Oh, no, that's not what I meant at all!" Sam said, so fast that the words were sliding together. "I didn't say it in a bad way! It's just, you do like getting solos a lot, and I-" Blaine couldn't stop himself from grinning, even though he was trying to keep a serious look. Sam stopped talking and scowled at him, though he looked like he was also holding back a smile. "Jerk! I actually thought you were mad at me."

"Well, I don't like being called a solo hog," Blaine said through his smile. Honestly, that was sort of a sore spot, especially after all of that drama with Finn last year. But he didn't mind so much when it came from Sam. And, okay, maybe Blaine could admit that he was a little bit of one. Just a little.

The bell rang then. "Do we have any homework?" Sam asked as he got his stuff together.

"Uh, I don't think so." Blaine frowned. He hadn't really been paying enough attention to know. But there was nothing written on the board, so he was going to assume that there wasn't any. "See you tomorrow, Mr. Schue," Blaine said on the way out.

"See you," Mr. Schue said, giving the two of them a little wave. "Great job on your audition, by the way. Oh, and can you tell Joe that I'll leave the choir room open for him, so he can use it to rehearse? I trust you guys to lock up."

Blaine frowned. "What rehearsal?" he asked. All of the New Direction practices were in the morning this week, right? Had be missed something?

Sam spun around slapped a hand to his forehead, looking so comical that Blaine had to struggle not to chuckle at the expression on his face. "I can't believe I forgot to tell you! Joe is singing to that girl he likes at lunch tomorrow. We're supposed to back him up. He's teaching us the song after school today." Sam's eyes widened even further. "Crap, we won't be able to go!"

"It's fine," Blaine said quickly, before Sam could get too worked up about it. If there was one thing Sam hated, it was feeling like he had let someone down. "Just ask him what song he's planning and learn the words tonight so you can help back him up."

Sam's expression brightened. "Great idea! I'm going to go find him now, okay?" He ran off before Blaine got the chance to say another word, or remind Sam to tell him the song as soon as he found out. Oh, well. Blaine could get the title from him later.

His last class went by incredibly slowly. And okay, maybe Blaine did spend the entire time zoning out and imagining himself and Sam singing at Regionals. He wondered what song they would do. It would be an original song, since that was what Mr. Schue had planned. Though if this year was anything like two years ago, then they probably won't have a clue what they were doing until Friday night. Maybe Mr. Schue would change his mind about the original song thing, or at least make sure that they got written on time this year. If Blaine had to wait another week to know what they'd be singing – assuming that they did get a song, of course – he might go crazy.

Finally, the bell rang, and Blaine got to his feet with a yawn. He was already ready to go home, but there was still Cheerios to get through. At least Sue would be there tonight, he thought as he headed down toward the gym. If anyone had asked, he would have said that having Sue gone would have made practice a lot easier, but Becky was a beast when it came to ordering people around. If Sue didn't show up today, he'd be very tempted to just sneak out, even though Sue would give him hell for it later.

Blaine was so lost in thought he didn't even notice where he was going until he walked almost straight into someone. "Oh, I'm sorry!" he said, looking up to see who'd he'd bumped into.

Lipoff.

Blaine froze. Out of everyone in the school, it just had to be the one person Blaine was trying his best to avoid. He tensed as Lipoff opened his mouth, waiting for some vicious insult or locker slam. At least he was pretty sure that Lipoff wouldn't be able to produce a slushy out of nowhere and toss it at him.

Lipoff started to say something, then stopped.

There was a second when Blaine could have hurried away, which probably would have been the smart option, but something about Lipoff's face was off. The expression on his face was just as hateful as always, but he was literally biting on his lip as if trying to hold something back.

"Sorry," Lipoff finally grumbled, then walked off, his shoulder knocking into Blaine's as he left.

Blaine frowned and turned around, watching Lipoff stomp off until he disappeared around the corner. If there had been any doubt that Sue was up to something, it was definitely gone now. That hadn't been the Lipoff that Blaine had been expecting. No way would Lipoff walk away without even throwing his favorite insults in Blaine's face before he went. Not unless there was something else going down.

And whatever that something was, it didn't look like it was over. Blaine blinked in surprise when he walked down the steps to the gym and saw a line of Cheerios stretching from the doors. "What's going on?" he asked, joining Kitty and Brittany at the end of the line.

"Don't know," Kitty said with a shrug, not looking like she much cared. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and started scrolling through something on the screen.

Brittany pulled nervously on her ponytail. "Last time we had to stand in line like this, she had us all fitted with shock collars so she could punish us if we messed up." After a moment, she brightened slightly. "I tried to use mine to roast marshmallows, but it just made a mess. Maybe I can try again!"

That... almost made sense. Also, how had Sue gone this long without being arrested? "I don't think she's going to use shock collars," Blaine assured her.

Instead of looking relieved, though, Brittany frowned. "What about the cattle prod? That one's even worse."

"Oh, stop being a baby," Kitty snapped, not looking up.

Blaine was starting to remember why he'd joined the Cheerios in the first place, to take Sue down from the inside so that she couldn't get away with all the crap she pulled. (Was Brittany serious about the cattle prod? Blaine was almost scared to ask.) When he'd first joined, he and Sam had been excited and filled with ideas, convinced that Sue would be gone in no time at all. But all of their plans had just... not happened. Between Glee rehearsals and falling in love with each other, they hadn't really had time to think about scheming against Sue. But maybe it was time to bring back those plans. Blaine made a mental note to talk to Sam about it.

"It's ten minutes after three," Kitty suddenly announced a few minutes later.

"So?" Blaine asked as they walked forward. By now, they were almost to the front.

"So, she missed practice yesterday, and now we're starting late," Kitty said, rolling her eyes at Blaine's question. "Whatever is happening, it has to be important. Aren't you at least a little curious?"

"Curiosity killed the cat," Brittany said at once. "I don't want it to hurt Lord Tubbington, so I'm not going to be curious about anything. Curiosity is evil."

"That's just an expression," Kitty said, her voice a strange mixture of reassuring and condensending. Brittany didn't seem to believe her.

"You're right," Blaine said to Kitty as they walked farther forward. "What's going on here?"

He meant it to be rhetorical, and did a double take when Sue answered. He hadn't even realized they'd gotten close enough for her to overhear them. "What's going on, my co-captain with the highly flammable hair, is that everyone is required to sign my petition before they can enter the gym." She gestured down to the small table in front of her, which was another thing Blaine hadn't noticed before, because up until now there had been Cheerios blocking his view. Sue grabbed a handful of pens and started tossing them at him, not seeming to care that a dozen of them bounced off his chest and fell to the floor before he finally managed to catch one.

"Now, I expect you to sign this petition with your own name. Then I want you to forge at least five different signatures using whatever pseudonyms you want, but for God's sake don't use an immature name like Fatty McButtcrack or anything involving the name 'Dick', or else I may not be able to resist the urge to rip you open and beat you with your own spine," Sue said, tossing another pen at Kitty, who somehow managed to grab it before it hit the floor. "Also, any names that insult Schuester are equally off limits, because I have already claimed every single one of them." She flipped to the first page of the petition and pointed to a group of names that were all obviously in Sue's handwriting, and indeed were names like "Moussehair McBadsinger" and "Will S. Needsalife".

"What are you doing?" Blaine asked.

"What does it look like?" Sue asked. "I'm forcing my Cheerios to aid me in using illegal means to accomplish my goals, which is something you should be used to seeing me do by now. And don't worry about the names. Figgins won't bother to read any of them. Quite frankly, I'm convinced that he must have bought his college diploma on eBay, because there is no way in hell that that man managed to pass Kindergarten."

"No, I mean, what are we signing?" Blaine asked. There was no way he was going to put his name on that paper until he found out, even if he was a little scared of what Sue would do to him if he refused. Kitty apparently didn't have the same concern, because she started signing right away without bothering to hear what it was.

"This," Sue said, "is a petition to ban slushies."

"What?"

Sue nodded. "Personally, I would've preferred to dump arsenic into the slushy machine until the McKinley population either died off or grew smart enough to stop drinking them, but after discussing the matter with Beiste, we decided to try a formal protest first." Sue shook her head and mumbled something. Only the words "poison", "Figgins", and "death" were audible. Blaine wasn't sure he wanted to know what else she had said.

"There's no crayons," Brittany said, staring down at the table.

"Here." Sue pulled a pack of crayons out of a bag at her feet and handed them to Brittany, who happily got to work writing her name so large it took up three lines.

Blaine waited until she was done, then stepped forward to start writing his own name. "What did you do?" he asked, after checking to make sure that everyone had walked away.

"I don't know what you mean," she said.

Blaine didn't look up from the page. He'd finished signing his own name, so he wrote the first random name that popped into his head on the next line, being careful to disguise his handwriting as much as he could. Though Sue was probably right about Figgins not bothering to check it. "I ran into Lipoff," he said quietly. "Literally ran into him, and he didn't even insult me. I know you're behind this. What did you do?"

"I did nothing at all," Sue said. "Though I will say that being locked in a supply closet overnight with the soul-destroying music of the New Directions blaring in your ears changes a person."

Blaine narrowed his eyes. "I don't know how you get away with even half of the things you do, Sue, but even you can't hold a student hostage overnight without being punished."

He glanced up in time to see her shrug. "I don't know anything about that. I do know, however, that I am a few steps away from completing my plan for world domination, and my first order of business when I become supreme empress will be to turn everyone I don't like into my servant monkeys. He could have realized that he'd be smart to get on my good side before time runs out." She paused, getting a far-away look in her eyes. "I also informed him that I know a guy who owns a balloon factory, and it would be all too easy for me to tie a thousand helium balloons around his waist and watch him float away."

No, threats wouldn't do it. At least, not ridiculous ones like that. Blaine knew that there had to be more, but he also knew that Sue wasn't about to say what that was.

"You're done," Sue suddenly announced, yanking the petition away from Blaine while he was only halfway through writing his third name. "Everyone stretch, now! You're learning a new ending to the first routine in two minutes, and you'd better be ready by then! Don't come crying to me if you get sore because you didn't prepare - I expect you to dance until your legs fall off and you bleed out across the gym floor!"

"Wait, we're learning new moves?" Kitty demanded.

"Yes," Sue said. "And you'd better be prepared, because you're going to be the star of it."

Kitty looked a little pleased at that, though she still protested, "We only have three more practices! How are we supposed to learn anything new?"

"One minute!" Sue shouted, completely ignoring her question. Blaine quickly sat down and started stretching as fast as he could, though there wouldn't be nearly enough time. He could already tell that he'd be hurting all over by the end of the night.

"Congrats," he said, glancing up at Kitty, who had already gotten her stretching done while Brittany and Blaine were still signing the petition. "It sounds like she's got some new move planned for you."

"You'll do great," Brittany said.

"Of course I will," Kitty said, though she smiled at the compliment.

"EVERYONE GET INTO POSITION FOR THE FIRST ROUTINE!" Sue roared into her megaphone. (Where had that thing even come from? Blaine swore she hadn't had it with her a minute ago.) "We're doing the whole routine, and then I'll teach you the new ending." Blaine scrambled to his feet and hurried to take his place in the center of the group, somehow managing to get into position a second before the music started.

He definitely had a lot to think about, between Lipoff and the petition and whatever Sue was planning. But he knew from experience that there was no way to focus on anything else during practice (the routine required too much concentration for that), so he pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind. He'd talk to Sam about it tomorrow. For now, he put all his concentration into running through the routine.


	19. Chapter 19

**I'm sorry that I couldn't get this posted any sooner! Final exams made it kind of impossible to get this done, but the good news is that school is over, and I'm back to writing! Now that I have more extra time, my goal is to write the chapters enough in advance that I'll be able to get all the rest of the chapters up on time. I'm already almost done with chapter 20, so it's looking good. :)**

**As always, I'd like to say "Thank you so much!" to my amazing beta, Tuuzmorado.**

**The song used is This = Love by The Script.**

* * *

At lunch the next day, Blaine rushed to the choir room as fast as he could, breathing a sigh of relief when he realized that Joe's serenade hadn't started yet. "Sorry I'm late. I had to talk to one of my teachers about something." After yesterday, Sue had decided that the practices she already had planned wouldn't be enough for the team – and mainly Kitty – to learn the complicated new moves at the end of the first routine. Any sane coach would have taken this as a sign that the new ending should be scrapped, but not Sue, of course. Instead, the Cheerios had to skip their last two classes on Friday in order to get more practice in. His seventh hour teacher had caught him in the hall to give him his assignments for Friday, which he appreciated, but it meant that he got to the choir room late.

"No problem," Joe said, glancing up. He'd been warming up his voice by the piano, but he stopped and walked over to Blaine, smiling. "Nobody's really doing anything yet, anyway."

Blaine nodded, glancing around. Jake and Ryder were over to one side, attempting to teach some dance moves to Sam. Blaine figured that it was probably the choreography to Joe's song. It probably would have been a good idea to go join them, but at this point, there probably wasn't time to learn anything. He'd just have to wing it. Artie and Tina were sitting over by the risers, talking about something. Sugar and Unique were gathered by the door, keeping look out. "Are the girls singing with us?" he asked. For some reason, he'd thought that it was just the guys.

Joe shook his head. "They just showed up out of nowhere. I think they decided to watch. The whole club's here except for Marley and Brittany."

"Marley said she had something important going on," Jake said, as he and the other guys came over to join them. He shrugged. "I don't really know what. She says good luck, though. And Brittany was here, but Becky showed up and dragged her down to talk to Sue about something."

Blaine frowned, vaguely worried. Last time any of them had been called down to talk to Sue in private, she'd declared war on the whole club. Whatever was going on, he didn't have much hope that it was something good. "She say why?"

"Nope," Ryder said. "Anyway, Kitty went down to get the girl, since apparently she's the only one who knows what Coleen looks like."

"Wait, so this girl isn't in glee?" Sam asked. "I mean, when you said you were going to do a serenade, I kind of figured it'd be Sugar or Tina or someone. I mean, no one dates outside the glee club!" Blaine rolled his eyes at that, but he had to admit that it was pretty much true.

Joe snorted and shook his head. "No, we met at the beginning of the year, at Kitty's weird Left Behind club. Then we both joined the same Christian student group, and it just went from there." He turned to the door, frowning. "She and Kitty should have gotten here by now."

"You think Kitty scared her off?" Jake said it like a joke, but in all honesty, that was probably a very good question. Blaine liked Kitty, but he'd heard some weird things about that club she'd formed. If he had been part of it (and hadn't known Kitty through Glee), he probably would have run off if he'd seen her, too.

"She's coming!" Sugar suddenly screamed from the doorway, giving a little clap. Which ruined any chance they had of surprising Coleen, since the entire hallway had probably heard her. The girls hurried to stand along the walls, presumably so they could watch without getting in the way, while the guys scrambled to get in position for their song. Blaine didn't have the slightest idea where he was supposed to go, but Sam grabbed his wrist and pulled him into position a second before Kitty and another girl walked in.

Blaine's first impression of Coleen was that she seemed sweet and a little odd, with long brown hair, giant neon-pink hoop earrings, and a blue tie-dye shirt that definitely made her stand out. He'd seen her in a few of his classes, but never really had any reason to notice her. Her eyes widened slightly when she saw everyone lined up, and started to grin before the music even began to play.

The guys all started to nod their heads to the beat as the music started and Kitty led Coleen to a chair in the front row. It only took Blaine a second to catch on and start nodding along. He hoped that the rest of the choreography would be this easy to follow, though that probably wasn't realistic. Joe stepped forward and grabbed the mic stand as he started singing.

_It's in the eyes of the children  
As they leave for the very first time  
And it's in the blood of a soldier  
As he takes a bullet on the front line  
It's in the face of a mother  
As she takes the force of the blow  
And it's in the hands of the father, yeah  
As he works his fingers to the bone, yeah_

So far, so good. The glee guys hadn't really done much yet. Joe was doing all the singing, while the guys stood behind him. But Joe sounded great, and more than that, Coleen's eyes were shining in a way that made it clear that she recognized the song and knew what Joe was trying to say. Blaine thought back to when Joe had first approached him with the idea of doing a serenade, and how nervous Joe had seemed about asking her. Joe must be blind if he he honestly worried that this girl was going to turn him down.

_I'm standing under a white flag, oh  
Can you see me, oh?  
Can you see me, oh?  
I'm standing for everything we have, oh  
Can you hear me, oh?  
Can you hear me?_

All of the guys surged forward, singing and dancing around Coleen's chair. Blaine joined in, grateful that he at least knew the words, even if he wasn't entirely sure what the moves are. Everyone else seemed to know it, and it wasn't like they were that complicated – mostly pointing to her in sync and clutching their hearts, just things like that. Still, it was pretty obvious that he was the only one with no idea what was happening.

_This is why we do it  
This is worth the pain  
This is why we fall down  
And get back up again  
This is where the heart lies  
This is from above  
Love is this, this is love_

_Love is why we do it  
Love is worth the pain  
Love is why we fall down  
And get back up again  
Love is where the heart lies  
Love is from above  
Love is this, this is love_

All the guys threw their hands up, Blaine copying them just a moment too late. He scowled for a moment, annoyed with himself for not asking Ryder to run through the choreography with him while he had the chance, then quickly made himself smile again. This was a love song, after all. And anyway, it wasn't like his dancing really mattered.

Sam caught his eye across the group and grinned, almost looking like he was chuckling. Blaine raised his eyebrows, not sure what that meant, but couldn't help but smile back.

The group's voices faded, leaving Joe singing quietly. The guys all backed up, so that Joe was the only one standing in front of Coleen's chair. Blaine and Sam didn't look away from each other the whole time he sang.

_This is love, this is love  
This is love, this is love  
This is love, this is love_

The guys joined back in, and Blaine finally tore his attention away to look back at Coleen, who was smiling and mouthing along with the song, one foot tapping along with the beat.

_Love is why we do it  
Love is worth the pain  
Love is why we fall down  
And get back up again  
Love is where the heart lies  
Love is from above  
Love is this, this is love_

Joe's voice faded to little more than a whisper as he sang the last notes.

_This is love, love_

The room was silent for a moment before everyone seemed to realize that the song was over. Then Coleen launched herself out of her seat and wrapped her arms around Joe.

After a moment, she pulled away and mock-glared at him. "You jerk! I've been trying to ask you out all year, and you beat me to it right before I was finally going to do it! I had it all planned out, to, and now I won't get the chance."

Joe chuckled, taking her hand as easily as if he had done it a million times. "So, would you like to go out with me? Maybe tonight?"

She heaved a loud sigh, though she was smiling. "I guess so."

"Whoo!" Sugar shouted, clapping her hands together. The other girls quickly joined in. Coleen glanced around like she suddenly realized that there were other people in the room. She ducked her head slightly and brushed her hair behind her ear, suddenly looking a lot shyer than she had a second ago.

"Alright, let's head to the cafeteria and leave them alone!" Sam announced, herding the guys out of the room. Joe sent him a grateful look, and Sam shot him a thumbs up before he and Blaine followed the others out the door.

"You know, it's weird that nobody met Coleen before now," Tina said as they all headed toward the cafeteria. "Besides Kitty, I mean. Remember last year, when there was so much relationship drama? _Everyone_ knew who everyone else liked."

"I don't know," Sam said with a smirk, glancing from Tina to Blaine."I think there's still plenty of drama with who people like."

Tina scowled and stormed off, moving up to walk with Sugar instead. Blaine hesitated, torn between wanting to stick up for Tina and not really knowing what to say in her defense because, well, Sam was kind of right about the drama thing. Finally he decided to just say nothing about that, and instead said, "She's right, though. We haven't really been spending as much time as a whole group as we did last year. Outside of school, I mean."

"Think we should all get together for something?" Ryder asked, dropping back to join them. "It might be cool to do something before Regionals. Like a team-building thing, except just hanging out. Not, like, trust falls or anything stupid like that."

"We can invite the girls to join us this Saturday," Jake suggested, glancing back at them.

It took Blaine a moment to remember what they were talking about. Last Friday, Sam had said something about an video game marathon with the guys, but Blaine hadn't heard anything more about it, so it had completely slipped his mind. "Crap, I won't be able to make it to that. That's the day of the Cheerio competition."

"Oh, yeah," Sam said, glancing at Blaine. "Then I won't be there, either. I already said that I'll go watch."

"And I think Marley said something about going to support Kitty," Jake said.

"Which means that you'll get dragged there with her," Ryder added. Jake playfully punched his arm.

Sam grinned, looking genuinely thrilled as he watched the two of them interact. Blaine was pretty happy about it himself. Everyone knew about Ryder and Jake's giant fight – you couldn't not notice it, especially with how cold they had acted toward each other in Glee ever since Ryder kissed Marley. Blaine wasn't entirely sure when they had made up – it must have been in the last few days, since they'd still seemed pretty mad last week – but he was happy for the two of them. Everyone knew that they were best friends, and it had sucked to see them fighting.

"You know, if half of us are already going to be there, why don't we all go?" Ryder asked. "We can do the video game thing some other weekend, after Regionals. Besides," he added with a grin, "I wouldn't mind going to watch a bunch of hot cheerleaders."

"Same," Jake agreed. "Uh, don't tell Marley I said that."

Blaine snorted. "Well, we might not be able to hang out much if Sue has us on lock down all day, but it'd be cool if you could come see us. You'll have to get up early, though. Our first routine is at eight AM." Nationals was being held near Lima this year, in honor of Sue's victory streak, so thankfully it wouldn't be a long drive. Still, the team had to get there by seven in order to prepare. Blaine was not looking forward to getting up that early on a weekend.

"And it's going to be a long day," Sam added. "All the teams do a short routine, so you've got to wait around until the results are announced that afternoon. Then if the squad moves on – and with Sue being all crazy about practice, you know they will – they'll stay and do a super-long routine, and then the award ceremony is at, like, eleven at night." At the others' surprised looks, he said, "Brittany explained it to me a couple weeks ago."

Ryder shrugged. "I'll still see if I can go, though."

They all walked into the cafeteria. The lunch line was already closed, so they all went straight to their table and got out the lunches they'd brought from home (or tried to steal food from their friends' lunches if they'd forgotten to bring one). Marley ran over to join them a moment later, a grin lighting up her face as she dropped down next to Jake. "How did the serenade go?"

"Joe was awesome," Sam said, subtly trying to grab Blaine's carrot sticks. Blaine slapped his hand away, just to prove that Sam wasn't nearly as sneaky as he thought he was, then passed the bag over. "It was weird seeing Blaine being the worst dancer for a change, though."

"Hey!" Blaine protested, even though he knew that he had done the worst. After all, it wasn't his fault that he hadn't been able to learn the routine. Just for that, he grabbed the carrots back from Sam, deciding that he wasn't in the mood to share anymore.

"I don't mean it in a bad way!" Sam said, reaching over to try to grab them back from Blaine. Blaine pushed Sam away, making sure to hold the bag just out of reach with his other hand. "It was just funny to watch you mess up for, like, the first time ever. Plus you were getting so frustrated by it! Like I said, funny." He made another grab for the bag, but Blaine moved it farther away. "Can I have my carrots back now?"

"Nope," Blaine said. "Any anyway, they're actually my carrots."

Sam rolled his eyes. "Would it help if I said that your frustrated face is completely adorable?"

Blaine thought for a minute, then handed them over.

Sam smirked and bumped his shoulder against Blaine's. "See, now I've found your weakness," he said. "I've just got to compliment you and you'll do anything I say!"

"Shut up," Blaine grumbled, though he had to admit that Sam was probably right. Not that he'd ever say that out loud.

"Oh my god, would you two stop flirting?" Kitty snapped from the other end of the table, though she looked more amused than annoyed.

Blaine froze and glanced at Sam, expecting him to get upset. Already, Blaine was trying to come up with some angry speech to snap at her later. She was one of the only people who knew about him and Sam, and she'd better keep it to herself until Sam was ready for it. And that did not include making pointed comments like that when the whole glee club could hear.

To his surprise, Sam just laughed. "Don't like it, don't watch us," he said, casually grabbing Blaine's water bottle and taking a sip. He noticed the look Blaine was giving him. "What?"

"Nothing," Blaine said quickly. After the slushy incident, Blaine hadn't expected Sam to say anything to anyone. At least, not so soon. He'd figured that Sam would save it for next week, closer to Regionals. And, well, this wasn't exactly the same as telling the club that they were (almost) dating. Everything Sam did could easily be interpreted as just a sign of their friendship. Still, it was something.

"Anyway, that serenade sounds so romantic," Marley said, turning to Unique, who nodded in agreement.

"Coleen's a lucky girl," Blaine said. "Joe chose a good song, too."

Marley eagerly nodded, turning back to Blaine now. "And getting everyone else to sing with him! That's such a romantic gesture, don't you think? Wouldn't you love something like that?"

Blaine pictured Sam singing to him in Glee, and felt his cheeks heat slightly. Not that he actually expected Sam to do something like that – at least, not while they were still trying to figure things out. But still, it made a nice image. "Definitely."

Ryder laughed and elbowed Jake. "I think Marley's trying to tell you something."

"Guess I know what I have to get to work on," Jake said.

Marley hurried to say that no, of course Jake didn't have to plan something like that. The rest of the girls all kept gushing about the serenade, while Artie and Ryder started talking about some new video game. It sounded like the kind of thing that Sam would be interested in, but he just leaned his forward, his chin in his hand, not looking like he was paying any attention. "Hm."

Now it was Blaine's turn to ask, "What?"

Sam grinned. "Nothing."


	20. Chapter 20

**I'd like to say a quick "Thank you" to a guest reviewer, mojubee. :) And, as always, thank you to my wonderful beta, Tuuzmorado.**

* * *

"We get to find out the singers today!" Sam exclaimed the moment he slid into Blaine's car on Friday morning.

Blaine grinned, though he tried to look casual, like he hadn't spent the whole drive over here freaking out about the exact same thing. "Excited?"

"You know it!" Sam said as he buckled himself in. "Drive, drive, drive! I want to get there as fast as we can!"

"You know that when we get there isn't going to affect when Mr. Schue gets there, right?" Blaine asked, though he did start driving maybe a little faster than normal. Not speeding, exactly. Just going a few miles per hour faster than he would have most days.

"I don't care," Sam said. "Drive!"

Blaine laughed, though he had to admit that he felt the same way. The drive to McKinley couldn't have ended fast enough, but a few minutes later, they were pulling into the parking lot.

"I really hope we get a duet," Blaine said quietly as they walked toward the choir room. His stomach was twisting with nerves, even though he told himself that this was silly, that he'd gone through too many auditions to still be nervous about them. Besides, it wouldn't be the end of the world if they didn't get one together.

But in a weird way, he kept thinking that this duet was a sign. After all, Regionals was the day that he and Sam might finally start dating. If they got to sing to each other, and did an amazing job, then that would mean that this relationship would work. That they were making the right decision, no matter how the bullies taunted them for it. And if they didn't get a duet, well, Blaine wasn't entirely sure what that would say about them, but he knew it wouldn't be a good thing.

That was a crazy way to look at it, and Blaine knew it, but that didn't stop him from thinking it.

"Me, too," Sam said in a low voice that made Blaine wonder if maybe Sam was thinking along the same lines that he was.

"Hey," Tina greeted them as they entered the choir room. Blaine smiled and dropped down in the chair next to her, Sam taking the seat on his other side. "You nervous?" she teased.

"No," he said at once, making Sam snort.

"He's totally nervous," Sam said.

Tina nodded, a smile playing on the corners of her lips. "Yeah, I can tell." She reached over and squeezed Blaine's hand. "You did amazing. Mr. Schue would have to be crazy to not give you a song."

He squeezed her hand back, smiling at her. "You, too. That was the best I've ever heard you sing! Not to mention how good you did at Sectionals. I'm sure you'll get one."

"Thanks," she said. Both of their heads snapped up as they heard Jake and Marley walk in, followed closely by Mr. Schue.

"Now, I know what you're all excited about," he said, walking to the front of the room. "Soloists." The whole club burst into applause, Blaine pulling his hand away from Tina so that he could clap along. Mr. Schue smiled and held up his hands for quiet. "But first, we have to talk about what songs we're going to sing. We've already decided to go with original songs. So who's excited for songwriting next week?"

This time, the response was much less enthusiastic. A few people gave halfhearted cheers, though most of the team didn't even do that. Blaine didn't blame them; he wasn't cheering, either. For one, he wasn't exactly a songwriter. He had no idea what they would even write about, let along what words they should use to write them. From the sound of it, Rachel had handled a lot of the songwriting two years ago, and nobody really knew who could step up and fill her shoes – it certainly wasn't going to be him, even if he was the Honorary Rachel. Not to mention that if they wrote songs next week, when were they going to have time to rehearse?

To his surprise, Mr. Schue chuckled at their lackluster response. "That was actually what I was hoping for," he said, grabbing a marker and heading back by the white board. "Marley showed me some of her original songs at lunch yesterday. They're really good, guys, and I thought that it might be a good idea to use her music instead of having to create new songs at the last minute. Anyone disagree with me?"

This time, the applause was staggering. Sam especially was clapping as hard as he could. He'd confessed to Blaine earlier that he wasn't looking forward to the songwriting, since he wasn't a very good writer, and Santana was apparently coming back to help with Regionals (at least according to her Facebook update a couple days ago). The last thing Sam wanted was for her to write a second version of Trouty Mouth.

"Good," Mr. Schue said. "We're going to start with two group numbers." He wrote YOU HAVE MORE FRIENDS THAN YOU KNOW on the board, then added OUTCAST directly below it. "Then we'll finish up with one duet." He wrote ALL OR NOTHING at the bottom of the list.

"Yeah, but who gets the duet?" Kitty demanded.

Mr. Schue smiled. "It only seems fair that the duet goes to the two who've done more for this club than anyone else this year. Without them, we wouldn't even be at Regionals. They also did an amazing job at their audition, might I add." Mr. Schue turned toward the board, though his body hid what he was writing.

Blaine felt his breath catch, though he tried not to get too excited. After all, he could be wrong. Mr. Schue could be talking about someone else, and the last thing Blaine wanted was to get his hopes up and then be let down.

Mr. Schue stepped back, revealing what he'd written next to the last song. BLAINE AND SAM.

"Yes!" Sam cheered, throwing one arm around Blaine's shoulders and giving him a one-armed hug. Blaine grinned, though he tried to calm down and not show how excited he was. He didn't want to seem conceded, or act like he was rubbing it into everyone else's faces or something.

He didn't know how well that was working, though. Because he was really, really excited.

"Congratulations!" Tina said, leaning over to hug him as soon as Sam had let him go. Artie offered them both a high five, and Ryder and Jake leaned forward to clasp them on the shoulders, grinning.

"The first song is going to involve solos by Marley, Tina, Unique, and Ryder," Mr. Schue said, then added their names to the board. "Ryder, I know you auditioned with some of the guys. Do you mind singing with the girls instead?"

"Oh, yeah, that's completely cool!" Ryder said. When Blaine glanced back at him, he looked thrilled just to have a solo.

Mr. Schue nodded and gave Ryder a smile before saying, "And 'Outcast' will be sung by Kitty, Artie, Jake, Brittany, and Joe, as well as the rest of the group. Brittany and Jake are also going to lead the dancing."

Sam leaned over to Blaine as everyone else started celebrating their parts. "Looks like you got your wish. Everyone got a part! Well, except for Sugar, but I don't even think she auditioned."

Blaine said, "This is going to be the best Regionals we've had so far." Because as much as he loved everyone's voices individually (and he did), he liked it a lot more when they could all sing together, and everyone got the chance to show off a little.

And if he also got to sing a duet with Sam, well, that was just about perfect.

"Oh yeah," Sam agreed, nudging Blaine's shoulder lightly with his own. "And I'm sure you're just saying that because of the song choices, and it has nothing to do with what else is going to happen that day?"

"That, too," Blaine said quietly.

"What else is going to happen?" Tina asked, and Blaine started. He hadn't even realized that she could overhear them.

"Nothing," he and Sam said at once. Tina raised her eyebrows, not looking like she believed them. Luckily, Mr. Schue spoke again before she could get the chance to say anything.

"We're starting our rehearsals after school on Monday, so you'll have to learn the songs before then," Mr. Schue said. "Tina, Marley, Ryder, Unique, do you think you could come in after school today to learn the first song?" They all nodded eagerly. "Ok, and I want all of you to come in on Monday morning to learn 'Outcast', since that's going to be a group song. Sam, Blaine, do you think you could stay after practice on Monday afternoon to learn 'All or Nothing'? We're not going to choreograph it until Tuesday, anyway."

"Definitely," Blaine said immediately, glancing over at Sam for confirmation.

Sam frowned and bit his lip. "Actually, I just got my new work schedule yesterday, and I've got to be at the Pizza King right after school on Monday. All my other shifts next week are in the evening, though, so I won't miss anything else. But I'll have to skip the first rehearsal."

Mr. Schue frowned as well. "We can find some other time to teach you the song, but you're going to have to catch up on the choreography you miss."

"I can teach it to you Monday night," Blaine told Sam quickly, because he was starting to look uncomfortable. "You were going to come over for dinner, anyway." They hadn't actually decided on a day for the family dinner yet, but Monday would be as good a day as any.

Sam looked relieved. "Thanks, dude," he said, fist-bumping Blaine quickly.

"Then do you think you two could come to the choir room during lunch on Monday?" Mr. Schue asked. This time, they were both quick to agree. "Then it sounds like we have a plan," he said, right as the bell rang. "I'll see you all next week. Good luck at the Cheerios competition!"

Blaine hurried to catch up to Marley as they all headed for the hallway. "I didn't know you wrote songs! Congratulations."

Her eyes lit up, though she ducked her head nervously. "I just hope everyone likes them."

"Oh, we totally will," Sam said, coming up beside them. "I mean, Mr. Schue thinks they'll win us the competition, so they've got to be good."

"Yeah," Kitty said, rolling her eyes. "Because we should totally trust the opinion of a man who still thinks we're living in his high school glory days." Marley hunched her shoulders and seemed to deflate a little, until Kitty added, "If the songs turn out to be any good – and I'm not saying they will – then it's going to be because of Marley's writing, not because Mr. Schue got his head out of his butt long enough to realize that we're not living in the 90s anymore."

Marley looked confused as Kitty walked off. "Was that... almost a compliment?"

"I don't know," Blaine said. From most people, it wouldn't have been, but that was about the closest he'd ever heard Kitty come to being nice. "Anyway, I've got to go to math. See you later."

"See you," Sam and Marley echoed, heading down the hallway toward their first classes while Blaine took off in the opposite direction.

* * *

Sam sneaked up behind Blaine, trying to be as quiet as possible, and leaned as close to Blaine's ear as he dared. "Good luck at practice!"

Blaine glanced at him, looking amused, then turned back to putting his books in his locker. "I heard you coming," he said, making Sam pout, then added, "Thanks. Good luck getting through Spanish without me."

Sam groaned at the thought. He liked Mr. Schue, sure, and he was pretty good at speaking it. It was the writing that messed him up every time. He had trouble reading English – how was he supposed to read anything in another language? Mr. Schue was cool about letting Sam take his tests orally, but that didn't really help him with the worksheets and book assignments. Blaine normally helped him out – and okay, maybe Sam had exaggerated how much help he needed, just a little bit, because he liked working with Blaine so much.

"Can I just come to Cheerios with you?" he asked, only half joking. "I mean, Sue would probably call me a spy and light me on fire or something if she found out, but it'd be worth it to watch you sing solos all afternoon."

Blaine laughed, cheeks flushing slightly at the compliment, which made Sam grin. He really liked seeing Blaine look happy like that. He'd practically made it his mission to compliment Blaine as much as possible just so he could watch Blaine smile all the time. "I only sing a solo in the first routine," he said. "The long routine is a duet between Brittany and I."

"But you're still singing, so I'll still get to watch you perform" Sam pointed out.

"Anyway, you really should get to class," Blaine said, glancing down at his watch. "And I should get to the gym before the bell rings, or else I don't want to know what Sue will do to me."

Sam nodded reluctantly, not really wanting to leave – and seriously tempted to try skipping Spanish to watch them practice. But then, the last thing he wanted was for Sue to see him spying and decide that she had to create a completely different routine the night before the competition just so Sam couldn't steal her secrets or something like that. "See you at eight?"

"Hopefully," Blaine said. "Sue keeps threatening to keep up until we get it perfect, but I don't think there's any way she could actually keep us later than eight. We'll all die if she makes us go any longer."

"I'll be there at eight, and you can come out whenever you get done," Sam promised.

Blaine smiled. "Thanks."

"No problem." Sam reached over and squeezed Blaine's hand, and was rewarded when Blaine's smile grew even bigger. "Good luck."

"You already said that," Blaine said.

Sam nodded. "Yeah, but once we stop talking, I have to let go of your hand and go to Spanish class, so I've got to keep thinking of things to say." Again, he was only half joking. He _really_ didn't like the idea of going to Spanish alone – mainly because it would suck to not get to see Blaine for another eight hours. He tilted his head and tried to come up with something. "I could compliment you in Na'vi," he said hopefully. He hadn't gotten a chance to use his Avatar-speak on anyone since Quinn, and Blaine was the type who'd actually appreciate it instead of just thinking he was completely nerdy. "I know how to say that you have pretty eyes."

Blaine squeezed his hand in return, his thumb rubbing softly over Sam's wrist. "As awesome as that sounds, I really do need to get to Cheerios," Blaine said, letting go of Sam's hand. "Tell me when you pick me up tonight?"

"Fine," Sam grumbled, making a mental note to go to the library so he could look up more compliments online. He hadn't really spoken much Na'vi since sophomore year, and he was pretty sure he was rusty. He sighed and started walking to Spanish, glancing over his shoulder in time to see Blaine disappear around a corner.

"Aw, aren't you two so cute together," a voice suddenly sneered. Sam stiffened, then turned slowly, not at all surprised to see two of the soccer jocks standing behind him in the otherwise-empty hallway. Both of them had slushies in their hands.

"What do you want?" Sam asked, taking a deep breath and telling himself not to sound scared. It was silly to be nervous. The worst they could do was slushy him. And yeah, he hated it, and they hurt like hell, making your skin burn with cold whenever you were hit with one. But really, it wouldn't be that bad. Not worth freaking out about. Definitely not worth being as afraid of them as he secretly was.

He told himself that.

"You got our boy Lipoff in trouble with Beiste," the first boy snapped. Sam thought his name was Bobby. "He's missing our biggest game because of you!"

"That was his own fault," Sam snapped back. The two guys stepped closer, and Sam reminded himself of all the reasons why it would be a bad idea to step back. For one, they were angling themselves so that if he backed away, he'd back himself straight against the locker and have nowhere to go. And if he moved, it would just show that he was afraid. And he wasn't. Of course he wasn't. They were just two stupid sophomores – at least, Sam thought they were sophomores – and just because they were holding slushy cups didn't make them a threat.

Sam really didn't want to get slushied twice in one week, though. Or ever.

The bell rang, but neither of the bullies even seemed to notice.

"No, I don't think it was," said Bobby. "If you hadn't turned into a fairy freak like your boyfriend, then Lipoff wouldn't have had to fight you. And if he hadn't had to do that, then he wouldn't have gotten detention, and our team would actually have a chance this year."

Despite himself, Sam snorted. "You actually admit that your team is so bad that you need Lipoff to win all the games for you?"

"Shut up," snapped the second boy, raising his slushy cup like a weapon. "Like we were saying, we're here to teach you a lesson."

Sam relaxed, ever so slightly. If Lipoff had had him cornered like this, then Sam would've been panicked. But these two didn't seem nearly as intimidating. More like little kids trying to be tough. "Whatever," he said, stepping forward to push past them.

A second later, Sam felt himself being slammed back into the locker. He winced as his shoulder struck the vent, the ridges in the metal digging into his skin hard enough that he knew there would be bruises.

"You think we're kidding?" Bobby demanded, his face only inches from Sam's and much fiercer than it had been a moment before. He and the other boy each had one hand on Sam's shoulder, shoving him against the metal, holding him in place. "You think you can push us around just because you're a fucking senior?"

Sam took a deep breath, telling himself to calm down. It was just a locker shove – one that had come out of nowhere, so he hadn't been expecting it, but he'd been shoved into lockers before. Hell, Lipoff had knocked him back into a locker just a few days earlier. And Bobby and the other guy weren't big enough to put that much force behind it. Or to hold Sam, especially since they each needed to keep one hand free to hold their slushies. Sam could shove them both away and get out of here.

Except they'd both try to fight back. And then Sam would have to fight both of them at once. And then Sam would get in trouble for fighting, for the second time in one week. He didn't think Beiste would be able to save him from suspension this time.

No way. He couldn't get in trouble right before Regionals. Not when he had to compete, and he and Blaine had just been given the duet they wanted. That would ruin everything. But it wasn't looking like he had much of a choice. Get in trouble, or let these guys attack him without fighting back. He couldn't tell which option he hated more.

"So here's what we're going to do," Bobby said, before Sam had a chance to decide. "You and your little boyfriend are going to stop hanging all over each other, and this'll be the last time any of us have to teach you a lesson. You got it?"

Sam narrowed his eyes. He still didn't know what to do, but he did know that there was no way he'd ever agree to anything Bobby told him. "I've got another idea. Why don't you guys just back off and leave us alone. It's not like we're doing anything to you," he snapped, already knowing that it'd be pointless.

"He's spreading his faggy disease through our school," Bobby snapped back. "He's already turned you. We've got to wipe it out before the whole place gets infected." He raised the slushy cup higher, so it was level with Sam's face. "So, you going to listen, or do you need some of this to convince you?"

"Leave him alone!"

Sam turned toward the voice, as much as he could with his back still pressed against the lockers. Brittany was storming towards them, scowling at the bullies, looking angrier than Sam had thought it was even possible for her to look. She held a camera in one hand – Sam had no clue why – and she pointed it straight at Bobby.

"Aw, is your ex coming to your rescue?" Bobby mocked. "She's still stupid enough to like you after you dumped her ass for gay boy? No, let me guess, she doesn't know, does she? She's gotta be the only girl in school dumb enough to not see it. That why you got with her in the first place?"

"Leave her alone!" Forget about trying to hold back and not get in trouble. They could insult Sam, but going after Brittany was crossing the line. Sam shoved their hands off of him and stepped forward, only to have both of them slam him against the locker a second time. Sam winced. They were stronger than they looked.

"Stop that!" Brittany said, not even seeming to notice the insult towards her. She raised the camera and pointed at it with her free hand. "I'm showing all the footage to Coach Sue, and if you slushy Sam then you'll both get suspended."

"Oh, well, we don't want that," Bobby said. He and the other boy exchanged a look, then stepped back, giving Brittany an obviously-fake smile. "We were just messing around, right Sam? No big deal."

No way in hell Sam believed that. He balled his hands into fists and didn't say a word, though he watched them both, ready for the first sign that they were about to start something.

"We should get going," Bobby's friend said, and for a second, it looked like they really were going to walk away and let it end like that. Then he gasped and pointed at something behind Brittany. "What's that?"

Brittany spun around to look, and Sam realized what was going on a second before it happened. He just had time to close his eyes before both slushies were thrown in his face, the ice so cold that it made his skin burn.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry, man!" Bobby said, his voice high and fake. It was obvious he was trying to hold back a laugh. "I'm so clumsy, aren't I? So sorry!"

"You did that on purpose," Brittany said, and Sam could hear the hurt in her voice. She sounded more upset than angry.

"Of course we didn't!" Bobby exclaimed. "Anyway, you don't have any _proof_, do you?" He did laugh this time, and a second later Sam heard footsteps as the two of them walked off, congratulating each other the whole way.

"Sam," Brittany said quietly after a few seconds of silence. "Here." Something soft was pressed against his face.

"Thanks," he said, taking it – whatever it was – and wiping off the ice so he could open his eyes without the corn syrup in them and hurting even worse. He blinked slowly, glancing down at whatever she had given him. "You didn't have to let me use your sweater. I don't think those stains are going to come out."

Brittany just shrugged. "It's fine. Mr. Tubbington doesn't let me where it inside the house, anyway, because there's a picture of a really skinny cat on the front, and it makes him feel self-conscious. I've been carrying it around in my bag because he'll rip it to shreds if I leave it in my closet. Are you okay?"

"Yeah," he said without really stopping to think about it. Because there was no way he'd say anything else and make Brittany worry. He had already hurt her enough a week ago without adding more to it now. "Thanks for sticking up for me. You really should have stayed out of it, though." He was _not_ going to let anyone drag Brittany into this. He just wasn't.

"But I got the footage, though!" Brittany said with a proud smile, handing the camera to Sam.

"Why do you have this, anyway?" he asked as he started fiddling with the buttons.

"Sue gave it to me yesterday," Brittany said. "She was worried that someone might try to attack her lead singer, so she told me to follow Blaine around all day and record everything that happens to him. She says that you're on your own as soon as the competition is over and she doesn't need him anymore, though." Suddenly, Brittany frowned. "I tried following Blaine, but he went to the library after first hour and I got lost in all the shelves. I just found my way out a few minutes ago."

"I don't think you actually had to record Blaine," Sam said. "He made it to practice just fine."

Brittany brightened. "Then I must have done a good job!" she said. Blaine not getting bullied didn't really have anything to do with her, but there was no way Sam was going to correct her on that if it made her so happy. "And I recorded Bobby bullying you!"

Sam bit his lip. "Uh, no you didn't," he said, holding out the camera for her to see. The screen was black, and stayed that way no matter what button Sam pushed.

Brittany frowned. "It didn't record? But I know for a fact that it was on! I was afraid that I'd forget, so I turned it on last night to make sure that I didn't."

That would be the problem then. "It's out of power," Sam said, handing it back to her.

"Oh."

The way her shoulders slumped was sad enough to make Sam's chest hurt, so he quickly said, "But you were still awesome, trying to rescue me! And you got them to walk away, so that was really helpful!"

"But they still slushied you," Brittany said.

"They would've done that anyway," Sam said, trying to sound like it was no big deal, though he frowned down at his ruined clothes. This had been his favorite Avengers T shirt, too. But more than that, being slushied was just plain humiliating. Still, Brittany didn't have to see that it was a big deal.

Brittany nodded, easily accepting his words and looking much happier. "Can I tell you something, Sam?" she asked. When Sam nodded, she glanced both ways to make sure that nobody was around, then leaned forward and whispered in his ear, "Blaine really likes you. Really, really likes you."

Sam frowned, not sure what to say to that. He knew that Brittany knew about Blaine's crush, but he was pretty sure that Blaine had asked her not to bring it up with anyone. "Why are telling me?"

She pulled back and furrowed her eyebrows like the answer should have been obvious, but said, "Because the bullies told you not to spend time with Blaine, but Blaine is going to be really sad if you do that, and I want to make sure you don't listen. So I'm making sure that you know how much he likes being with you, because then you won't want to leave him and break his heart." After a moment of thought, Brittany added, "He likes you in a boyfriend-way, not just a friend-way, even though you aren't dating."

Sam couldn't help but smile. "I'm not going to stop hanging out with him," Sam promised. Until now, the thought hadn't even crossed his mind. But now that Brittany brought it up, Sam couldn't help but think of it.

He wasn't about to do something just because an asshole like Bobby told him to. Of course he wouldn't. Still, Sam thought as he glanced down at his ruined clothes again, he had to figure out something to do. Something that didn't involve treating Blaine badly. Because Sam was going to date Blaine no matter what the bullies did. He was. Something like this wouldn't be enough to stop him.

"Yay!" Brittany said. "Because I don't like to see him sad. He was sad too much after he broke up with Kurt, but he's happy with you, so that's good."

Sam nodded, not paying as much attention to what she was saying as he had before. "I'm going to go clean up. And you should go to practice."

Brittany nodded. "Can I hug you before I leave? Because you still look sad, and I want to cheer you up."

Sam was about to accept when he remembered the slushy stains and thought better of it. "Save it for another time, okay? I don't want to get you in trouble with Sue for staining your uniform."

She frowned but didn't protest. "You can keep the sweater," she said. "Want me to help you clean up?"

"I'm good," he said, turning to head back to the usual slushy-clean-up spot, the girls' bathroom in one of the lesser-used hallways. "Thank you." They both started to walk away, but Sam stopped almost immediately and called, "Hey, Brittany?"

She stopped and looked back at him. "Yeah?"

"Can you not tell Blaine about this?"

She looked confused. "Why not?"

"You have the competition tomorrow. If you tell him about this, he'll just be distracted," Sam said. And as much as Blaine tried to act like he didn't care about being in the spotlight, Sam knew how much winning meant to him. Even if it was a competition like this, where he'd only joined the Cheerios to take Sue down and had never actually intended to be a real member. And more than that, Blaine was the lead. If the Cheerios lost for the first time in who-knows-how-many years, Blaine would totally blame himself, even if their loss didn't actually have anything to do with his singing.

"I'll tell him at some point," Sam promised. And he would, if he had to, though Sam hoped that he wouldn't have to. Sam really hated to make Blaine worry at all. But at the same time, if the bullies were going to be trouble, then Blaine should know about it before they attacked him, too. "Just after the competition, okay?"

Brittany didn't look convinced, but slowly nodded. "Okay, if you want me to," she said. "But you're going to tell him?"

"I will," Sam said. "Thanks, Brittany."

"You're welcome," she said, and they both left.

Sam got to the bathroom quickly and leaned against the sink, staring at his reflection. The slush was all over him. It was grape, too – the kind that was hardest to wash out. It would take him all hour to get the color out of his hair, if not more.

He snorted. Looks like he'd get to skip Spanish, after all.

He sighed and bent his head under the sink, turning on the hot water and wishing he'd been smart enough to pack shampoo and conditioner in his bag like Blaine did. One of the girls probably had some, and it'd be easier to wash it out if he had someone to help him. He didn't text anyone for help, though. He kind of felt like being alone.

Blaine had told him about the weird run-in with Lipoff on Wednesday, of course. Sam had sort of assumed that the worst was over, and the bullying would stop now. Maybe that had been stupid, but he'd hoped, at least. And now Lipoff's friends were coming after them. It was the same situation, just with different people.

Sam had said on Tuesday that he could make it for a few more months, that he had to. That hadn't changed. A few months, and they'd be done with McKinley and living in New York. They could do it. Sam knew that they could. But he really didn't want to spend those months washing his hair in the bathroom twice a week and carrying two sets of clothes in his bag.

Just a few months left. But in order for Sam to make it through them, something was going to have to change.


	21. Chapter 21

**As always, thank you so much to my wonderful beta, Tuuzmorado. (I'm going to mention her in every single chapter, because she's just that great.) **

* * *

Sam tapped his pencil against his worksheet and tried to focus on his math problems, but it wasn't exactly working. There was only fifteen minutes left until he was done with his last detention, and what Sam really wanted was to just hurry up and get out of McKinley so that he could focus on how awesome the Cheerio competition would be tomorrow and not have to think about anything school-related until Monday morning.

"Okay, what's eating you?" Beiste asked. Sam looked at her in surprise. Every once in a while she'd say something, but for the most part she spent these detentions sitting at her desk while he sat at the smaller desk she had brought in from one of the unused classrooms, both of them working quietly on their own stuff. "Don't give me that look. You've been staring at the same sheet of paper for twenty minutes now, and you haven't written a thing. You need help figuring a problem out? Math isn't exactly my strongest suit, but I could give it a go."

"No, I'm good," Sam said quickly. He actually understood these problems pretty well, after he'd gotten Blaine to explain how to do them. He probably could have gotten the whole page done by now if he could just make himself work.

"Then what's bothering you?" she asked. "And don't say nothing, because I see the look on your face."

Sam shrugged, not entirely sure what she was talking about. "Just ready to get out of here," he said, giving her a small smile. "Excited for the weekend and stuff."

She nodded, but didn't look convinced. "You sure that's all that's wrong?" she asked. "Lipoff hasn't given you and more trouble?"

Sam shook his head. "Sue apparently had a talk with him over attacking Blaine. Or, she did something to him. I don't know what, but he hasn't done anything since."

Beiste snorted. "I don't think anyone knows what the heck Sue got up to. When I asked her, she gave me some elaborate explanation involving two sword fish and a butcher shop." She shook her head. "Whatever she did, I'm glad to hear it's working."

"Me, too," Sam said, turning back to his worksheet and trying to get to work, even if his mind didn't seem like it wanted to cooperate. He sneaked a glance at the clock. There were still ten more minutes. Which, okay, maybe that wasn't that long of a time, but he really just wanted to get out of there.

"What about the rest of the kids?" Beiste asked. "Any of them causing trouble?"

Sam stiffened slightly but tried not to show it, not looking up from his worksheet. "Not really," he said, in a voice that he hoped was convincing.

Which apparently failed, because when Beiste spoke next, her voice was about ten times more concerned than it had been a moment ago. "Sam," she said. When he didn't respond, she said, "I told you to come talk to me if anyone tried something. What happened?"

Sam scratched a random number at the bottom of the first problem, even though he hadn't actually solved it, just to look like he had something to do. He didn't really know why he didn't want to answer, except that he should be the one to deal with this. Beiste was awesome and all, but this was his problem – well, it was kind of Blaine's, too, but still. He wanted to be able to take care of it himself, not have someone step in and do it for him. Even if he wasn't entirely sure how to do it.

But when Sam glanced up, she was staring him down in a way that made it clear that she wasn't going to let him leave here without giving her answers. Sam sighed and looked back down at his paper. "A couple of the soccer guys cornered me after lunch. Apparently they think it's my fault Lipoff got in trouble and won't be able to play in any of the games."

He didn't look up to see her reaction, but her voice sounded dangerous. "What'd they do?"

He shrugged. "Threats, insults, stuff like that. And they called Brittany stupid when she came over and told them to stop." His hands clenched just thinking about it, and even though he already knew what a stupid idea it was to pick a fight, part of him really wished that they were here now so that he could show them what he thought of the things they'd said to Brittany.

"Anything else?" Beiste asked. Her voice sounded dangerous in a way that would be intimidating if her anger had been aimed at him.

Sam pressed the tip of his pencil against the page so hard that it snapped off. He knew what he should say. It probably should have been the first thing he told her, since it was the worst part. But that just made him not want to bring it up. Which was stupid, he knew that. But still, he didn't want to admit that the bullying was bad enough that he didn't even go a week before getting slushied again. Or admit that he couldn't do anything to stop it.

But obviously Beiste wasn't about to let him get away with that. Sam knew that even without looking at her. He sighed and ducked his head slightly, making his bangs fall into his eyes. "They shoved me against a locker." He could still feel the marks whenever he leaned back against something. "And they slushied me. Twice."

There was a long pause. Sam didn't look up. Besite asked, "Who were they?"

"Bobby Surette," Sam said slowly. "I don't know what the other guy's name is, though."

"It was just the two of them?" Beiste asked.

Sam nodded, still staring down at the page like some secret code was going to appear out of nowhere. Which would be pretty cool, now that he thought about it.

A second later, he heard wheels squeak as Beiste rolled her chair around her desk, moving it so that she was sitting nest to Sam. "How are you doing?"

He shrugged, not entirely sure what she meant by that. "Fine. I mean, I don't like getting slushied, but it's not like they really hurt me, so I'm okay."

He looked up just as she was shaking her head. "I'm not talking about the physical stuff - though if they ever hurt you like that, I want you to come tell me immediately, no matter what else is going on. You got that?" When he nodded, she continued, "But I mean, how are you doing with all this? How are you holding up?"

"I still don't know what you mean," Sam said after a moment.

"I mean that this has to be a lot to take in," Beiste says. "I'll be the first to admit that I don't have a clue what goes on in the McKinley rumor mill. You think anyone is in any hurry to gossip where I can hear them? But all of this bullying against you and Blaine seemed to have come out of nowhere, so it must have struck you by surprise, too. How are you doing?"

"Oh," Sam said, biting his lip and thinking about it. "I wasn't exactly expecting this," he admitted. "It's not like I didn't know it was a possibility. I saw everything that went down with Kurt a couple years ago. But it still never really crossed my mind when me and Blaine-" He shook his head, not entirely sure why he was saying all this to a teacher, even one as awesome as Beiste. "But they have to back off eventually, right?" He wasn't entirely sure if that was true, but saying that out loud sounded too depressing. "At least, I'm going to be graduating in a couple months, and then it won't be a problem any more."

Beiste frowned. "You're not going to spend your last months of high school being bullied every day."

Sam didn't want that, either. If there was any way to avoid it, then he planned on figuring it out and doing it - except breaking up with Blaine, of course. But he wasn't entirely sure that a way to do that even existed. More likely he'd be stuck like this for the rest of the year, probably getting slushied every day. Which would suck, because having two shirts ruined already put a dent on his wardrobe (out of all the things they'd bought after his dad had managed to get a job, clothes hadn't really been at the top of his list). A couple more weeks of slushies and he'd have to either get new clothes or wear the stained ones to school, and the last thing he wanted was to explain to his parents why exactly he suddenly needed money for a bunch of new shirts.

That was another reason he needed to figure out a way to make the bullies stop, even if he still didn't know how.

He glanced up at the clock. Detention had gotten out two minutes ago. Sam jumped up, stuffing his worksheet and pencils into his bag randomly. "See you on Monday," he said, then added, "Thanks for everything." Because really, she had helped him out a lot.

"See you," she echoed. "Come find me if you ever need to talk, okay?"

He was out the door before he had the chance to answer.

* * *

Sam tapped his fingers on the dashboard and checked the clock for the tenth time in about two minutes. It was still ten after eight. Clearly Sue had made good on her threat to keep them late. And Sam had agreed to stay out here and wait for Blaine to be done, but somehow he hadn't realized how mind-numbingly boring it was to sit in a dark car with nothing to do. He should have at least grabbed a comic book or something.

It crossed his mind that he could probably sneak in and watch, the way he had earlier this week, but he decided against it. For one, with any luck they were already done practicing, and Blaine was just getting cleaned up before coming out. And more than that, Blaine only had to put up with Sue's craziness for one more day, and Sam didn't want to set her off right before the competition. So, basically, he was going to sit here until Blaine came out, and who knew how long that was going to be?

His phone rang, and Sam grabbed it, eager for anything to distract him from his boredom. He checked the caller ID quick, and grinned as he answered it. "Hey, Mom!"

"Sounds like someone's excited to talk to me," Mom said. He could hear the smile in her voice. "You should be, considering you forgot to call me last week, so it's been two weeks since I've heard from you."

"Shit!" he said. He and his parents texted and emailed during the week, but one of his mom's rules for him going to McKinley was that they had to call and talk to each other at least once a week - usually on Friday, since that was the least-busy day for both of them. Last week had been his turn to call, but with all the drama and stuff going on, he'd completely forgotten about it. Then he realized he'd just sworn in front of his mom. "Sorry! I mean, crap. And sorry about not calling, too."

To his relief, Mom just laughed. "It's okay. I figured you just got busy."

"Oh yeah," he said, thinking of everything that was going on. "Still, sorry! I'll remember to call next week, I promise. I've got Glee, though, and I'm working late at the garage, so it'll have to be kind of late."

"Don't bother, then," she said lightly. "What's the point of talking on the phone when we get to see you in person the next day?"

"Wait, you're coming?" he exclaimed, grinning. "All of you?"

"All of us," Mom confirmed. "Stacey and Stevie are especially excited about it. Stacey's at a friend's house and Stevie's in bed already, otherwise they would have stolen the phone from me already."

"So you're coming? That's awesome!" They'd come to see him at Sectionals, of course, to take him home for Thanksgiving. But last he'd heard, there had been some conflict with work schedules, so they hadn't known if they'd be able to make it to Regionals. Which was fine – he understood that their jobs were important – but this was pretty much the best news he could have gotten. Seriously, if there was one thing that would cheer him up the most after such a crappy day, this was it. "I can't wait for you to see it! Blaine and I get to do a duet. Did I tell you we were auditioning? Anyway, we won so we get to sing together. I don't know what the song is yet, but it was written by this girl Marley, and I'm expecting it to be awesome!"

Mom laughed again. "Okay, okay, slow down so that I can understand you. You and Blaine are singing together? That's great."

"Yeah," Sam agreed, smiling at the thought. "I really can't wait for you to see it."

"And how's Brittany doing?" Mom asked. "Her competition is tomorrow, right? Wish her good luck from me."

Sam stiffened. Of course his mom would say something like that, he hadn't actually told her about the break up, but now he had to figure out a way to say it. "Actually, we're, uh, not dating any more. But yeah, her competition is tomorrow. I think they're going to win again this year."

"You broke up?" Mom asked, zeroing in on the first thing he'd said. "When?" she asked, her voice sympathetic and comforting, the way it had sounded when he and his last few girlfriends had broken up. Which had been helpful back when he was heartbroken by Mercedes or feeling betrayed by Finn and Quinn, but just seemed kind of weird since he was the one who'd broken up with her, and wasn't really upset about it.

"Last Friday," he said. "That was kind of why I didn't call. I got distracted."

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Oh, yeah," he said quickly, because Mom sounded like she was expecting him to fall apart or something. and okay, maybe that was fair, considering how upset he'd been after he and Mercedes had broken up for the second time. "Actually I was the one who broke up with her."

"Really?" Mom sounded a lot more surprised than she probably meant to. Then again, that also kind of made sense, considering his track record. "I'm surprised. It sounded like you really liked her." By the way she said it, it was obvious that she was thinking of the fake-wedding thing, which he had gotten in big trouble over once his parents found out that he'd tried to get married in high school. "What happened?"

"Uh..." Sam bit his lip, trying to figure out what to say. This was one of the weird things about going to school in a different state than where his parents lived. It made it harder to talk to them about stuff. Two years ago, Sam would have gone to his mom the moment the whole thing with Blaine had started and asked for advice. But ever since he'd lived in Kentucky, he'd gotten more and more used to figuring things out for himself, like when he was stripping in secret because it was what he had to do. And now that he was living completely on his own, he had even less chances to tell him mom what was going on. It was just easier to figure things out on his own, so that was what he did. And when he did decide to talk to her about something, he wasn't entirely sure how. Which kind of sucked, now that he'd started thinking about it.

"I went over to her house and talked to her about it," he finally said, somewhat awkwardly. He didn't know what to say after that. But this was his mom, even if they didn't talk as much as they used to. He could say whatever to her. So he admitted, "I kind of like someone else. Like, a lot."

"Sam-" she said.

He cut her off. "I know, I know, it's terrible. I shouldn't fall for someone else when I'm dating her. But this person really likes me back, and I don't want to hurt either of their feelings, and I really didn't know what to do about it, and-"

"Sam!" she said. "It's alright. I was actually going to say that it sounds like you made a very mature decision. If you and Brittany didn't work out, then it was a good idea to end it instead of dragging it out or cheating."

"Oh," Sam said. He thought back to that first kiss with Blaine and squirmed uncomfortably. But that didn't count, right? He hadn't exactly meant to cheat.

"So, are you and this person dating?" Mom asked.

"No, not right now," Sam said. "We like each other and all, but we decided to wait. To get over our exs and stuff."

"That sounds like a really good idea," Mom asked. "So, who is it? Anyone you've told us about."

Sam froze. That was another thing he didn't really know what to say. He probably should just come out with it and say that the person was Blaine. It wasn't like he expected his parents to be upset. They'd met both Kurt and Blaine before, and never even reacted when they found out that both of them were gay. Plus, he knew without a shadow of a doubt that his parents would love him whatever his sexuality. So it should be easy to say it.

"...It's definitely someone you've heard about," Sam finally said.

"Keeping the name a secret?" Mom asked, her voice slightly teasing. "Okay, but you'll have to introduce us when we come up on Saturday. I know I've met most of your friends, but I want to be officially introduced to the person you're going to be dating soon."

"Yeah, I can do that," Sam said. It made sense, considering that was the day they were going to start dating, anyway. He could introduce Blaine as his boyfriend, no problem. At least, he should be able to.

The passenger door opened, and Blaine practically collapsed inside, looking exhausted. "I've got to go," Sam said, since he didn't want to talk on the phone and drive, especially when it was getting dark. "Blaine just got out of Cheerio practice, and I'm driving him home since he's too tired to do it himself. I think he's already asleep in the passenger seat."

"No I'm not," Blaine mumbled, his words only half-audible.

Sam snorted. "He's tired enough that he didn't even bother to gel his hair after he showered after practice," he told him mom. "You've seen the pictures of him, right? And met him at Thanksgiving. So you know what a big deal that is."

"Shut up," Blaine grumbled, clamping one hand on his head like he was trying to keep the curls from escaping. "You're the only one who's going to see me, anyway."

"Then you should hurry up and get him home," Mom said. "Tell Blaine that I said good luck, and I'll see you next week. Love you, Sam."

"Love you, too, Mom," Sam said, then hung up. "Mom says good luck," he told Blaine as he pulled out of the parking lot. "And she wants to meet you next week at Regionals."

"She's already met me," Blaine said, still slumped down in his seat, looking like he was zoning out a little.

"I mean, she wants to meet you as my... as my boyfriend," Sam said.

That caught his attention. Blaine sat up, turning to Sam immediately. "You told her about us?"

"Yeah," Sam said. "Well, no. I told her that I broke up with Brittany because I like someone else, and said I'd introduce her next Saturday." He frowned. The look on Blaine's face was kind of hard to read, especially in the dark, when he couldn't do more than glance over at him for more than a second. "That okay?"

"Yeah, of course it is!" Blaine said, and there was a definite smile in his voice. "It's just, this makes it seem real, doesn't it? You're coming over for dinner on Monday to talk to my parents. I'm going to officially meet your parents on Saturday. This is actually happening."

Sam smiled and took one hand off the wheel long enough to squeeze Blaine's hand. Well, he was aiming for Blaine's hand, but ended up squeezing his leg instead, which worked just as well. "It is," he said. Part of him had a hard time believing it himself. All he knew was that he and Blaine were barely more than a week away from being actual boyfriends, and the thought was really, really terrifying (especially when he thought about the bullying). But when Blaine put it like that, it made Sam think that it was also really, really incredible.


	22. Chapter 22

**Apparently the cheerios lost at Regionals in season two!? I completely forgot about that until I went to look up how long their winning streak is. Did anyone else not know about that, or was it just me?**

**Thanks so much to my beta, Tuuzmorado, who was a huge help with writing the ending of this chapter. If you like the way that this chapter ends, then give all the credit to her. And if you don't like it, then put all the blame on me. :P**

* * *

"I don't mean to sound pessimistic or anything, but are we going to make it on time?" Ryder asked, leaning toward Sam.

Sam shrugged. The whole group was carpooling together to the Cheerio competition, since everyone had agreed to go. Obviously there was no way to fit the whole glee club into one car, even without Blaine, Brittany, or Kitty (since they'd caught the bus with the rest of the squad). So Sugar had driven Artie and Joe (along with his new girlfriend), while the rest of the club took Tina's van.

They should have had plenty of time, but they'd run into some bad construction and had to take a very complicated detour. Tina was driving, and she claimed to know exactly where she was going, but Sam had his doubts.

Ryder and Sam were sitting in the back row of Tina's van, and Ryder had kept his voice down, so Tina shouldn't have been able to hear him. But somehow she must have, because she snapped, "Of course we will! We've still got fifteen minutes until their first routine, and we're almost to the college." The Cheerio competition was being held at a local university.

"Okay, okay, I was just asking," Ryder said, holding his hands up in surrender, even though Tina couldn't see him. Sam snorted, making Ryder elbow him in the side.

"Don't worry," Unique said. "I'm helping her navigate, and you know I've got this. I've gone up and down these roads a million times."

"I didn't say I needed any help," Tina grumbled.

"I'm sure Tina knows what she's doing," Sam said, loudly, because she was Blaine's friend and it couldn't hurt to score some brownie points with her. "We've got plenty of time, so there's no point worrying."

"Sugar said that the other group is already there," Marley said, looking up from her phone. "So even if we miss it, at least some of us will be there to support them." From her voice, Marley clearly didn't expect them to arrive on time. Jake leaned over and gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

"We're not going to be late," Tina said for the millionth time. "I know what I'm doing."

Ryder raised his eyebrows skeptically but chose not to comment, which Sam thought was a pretty good idea. Tina was even scarier than normal when you were stuck in a closed space with her and couldn't get away.

"Ha!" Tina said a few minutes later. "Look, that's the university right there! I told you we'd get there on time."

Sam glanced down at his watch. They still had about seven minutes left, which wasn't a whole lot of time, but they could probably still make it. Probably.

It took a whole lot of running (especially since the only open parking spaces had been on the far end of the parking lot), but they made it to the gym with about two minutes to spare. Even better, the other group had managed to save them seats in the first two rows. "What did we miss," Sam asked quietly as he dropped down onto the end seat in the front row, right next to Artie. The rest of the group filled in the other empty seats.

"Not much," Artie said with a shrug. "The last team was really bad. I don't know how they even made it to Nationals. The team before them was great, though." Artie still had a slightly dazed look just from thinking about it, which Sam took to mean that there had been a lot of sexy moves.

"McKinley is still going to win," Tina said. She had grabbed the seat on Sam's other side, which was kind of weird, because Sam was pretty sure that she didn't like him. Well, she acted like she didn't like anyone, even when she was friends with them. But in Sam's case, he was pretty sure she was mad at how often he hung out with Blaine. And also jealous that Blaine had a crush on him and not her, but maybe that wasn't so much of an issue now that she was dating that other guy. Either way, Sam had still expected her to spend the whole day ignoring him.

"Definitely," Sam agreed, giving her a smile. Because if she was willing to act nice to each other, then he definitely was. Not to mention that that was the one thing they could agree on – that Blaine totally kicked butt and none of the other teams even stood a chance.

"Kitty is still really nervous about the ending, though," Marley said. She was seated right behind them, and leaned forward to join the conversation. "At least, she was at school yesterday."

"All the practice helped, though," Sam said. Blaine had told him about it yesterday. Apparently the new ending involved Kitty doing a crazy number of flips in a row. Sam couldn't remember what the actual number was, but it sounded like something that wasn't even humanly possible. "Apparently she did it perfectly most of the time."

"Most of the time?" Ryder asked. "Sue let her get away with only getting it most of the time?"

Sam frowned, because now that he thought about it, that did sound weird. "I think she didn't make any mistakes during the last dozen times they ran it," he said, trying to remember what exactly Blaine had said. "She'd been messing up a lot before then, but she was doing really good at the end of practice, so Blaine figures she's finally got it down." At least, Sam hoped that she'd gotten it down. An angry Sue was terrifying to behold, and he didn't even want to think about what would happen if they didn't win Nationals.

"Have you seen Kitty?" Jake asked. "She's crazy enough that she'd never let anything mess her up. She's got this."

"She'd better," Sugar said. "I came here to see us win."

Sam was about to add something about how he agreed with Jake – Kitty wasn't the type to let anything stop her, especially not some stupid flips. But before he got the chance, the announcer said, "And up next, we have last year's national champions, and the holder of the longest victory streak in cheer leading history, McKinley High!" Sam clapped and cheered along with everyone else as the whole squad bounced in from the side doors, taking their position in the center of the room. Then he leaned forward, literally sitting on the edge of his seat as he waited for the music to start.

* * *

"All right, you sissy crybabies," Sue began. "This is it. I want you to go out there and pour all your blood, sweat, and tears on that floor until the whole gym turns into a watery mess and the rest of the competition needs to be canceled due to the flood. Am I making myself clear? Sue Sylvester has never lost a Nationals competition, and you don't want to live to see what will happen if you screw that up now."

Blaine nodded as he leaned forward into a stretch. They'd spent every moment since they first checked in this morning running the first routine again and again, but now they were gathered in the thin hallway outside the gym, waiting for their time to enter. There wasn't enough room for them to practice, so Sue had ordered them to sit down and stretch, which is what they'd been doing for about twenty minutes now.

"What are you all still doing on the ground?" Sue demanded, as if she hadn't been the one who ordered them to stretch as much as possible. "On your feet, now! Are you trying to embarrass me before the competition even starts? Get into position!"

Blaine and everyone else scrambled to their feet and arranged themselves the way Sue had instructed them. Everyone took the position they needed to be in at the beginning of the song, so that they could run into the gym already ready to go.

Kitty was next to Blaine, staring straight ahead and looking like she was going to be sick. He nudged her lightly with his arm, just enough to make her turn toward him. He was pretty sure that Sue had banned whispering (or making any other noise at all unless she told them to), but he couldn't resist leaning toward her and saying, "You're going to be great."

She nodded and gave him a tight smile, then turned away, her face reverting to the tense look she'd had before.

He wanted to point out that she hadn't made a single mistake all morning, but just then he heard their team announced. He just had time to reach over and squeeze her hand before they all ran forward through the doors, jumping around and generally trying to be as peppy as possible. Sue had threatened them quite creatively with what she would do if they ever dared to walk without bouncing while the judges were around.

There was one second when they were all gathered in the center of the floor, everyone standing completely still, with no music playing yet. He could see the judges all sitting behind a table in the front row. He scanned the bleachers for any sign of the Glee club – at least, as much as he could look around without actually moving his head – but couldn't find them in the crowd. He was sure they were there, though.

For that one moment, he was incredibly aware of all the eyes on him, and felt a rush of excitement and adrenaline and a little bit of fear. Then the music started, and he pushed every other feeling away so that he could focus on the routine.

He had sung this song and done this dance a million times in the past few days. He knew every second of it by heart, from the steps to the way he had to draw an extra-deep breath if he wanted to hit the big note in the middle to the awkward way he had to position his hands when he flipped one of the freshman girls or else she'd accidentally kick him in the head. All the little details were practically as easy as breathing, but this felt different than every other time they'd run through it. There were people actually watching them, analyzing their every move, searching for any sign that they weren't good enough. And, since Blaine was the one singing, he knew that a large amount of those people would be staring directly at him.

It should have been way too much pressure. Instead, Blaine was thrilled. Because he knew the team was good, and more than that, he knew that this was the best performance they'd ever given.

Maybe it was the adrenaline that came from having an audience, but the routine was going perfectly. Everyone got each move right, but more than that, he'd never seen everyone this excited before, not even at their last competition. Every move had more energy, to the point where they were all practically vibrating with excitement. Even Kitty looked like she had relaxed, though it was hard to tell, since Blaine only saw her for a second.

About halfway through the routine, he caught a glimpse of the judge's faces. Every single one of them was grinning and nodding along to the beat. That was when he knew that they were going to win. He could see it in their eyes – they were impressed.

The rest of the routine went way too fast for Blaine. He almost wished he could slow down, enjoy every moment, but barely a second seemed to pass before he was singing the last note of his song, stretching his voice to the top of his range, knowing that he was exactly on key. That was the end of his time in the spotlight. He dropped back, joining the rest of the group in some basic choreography while Kitty began the grand finale.

Back flips had always been Kitty's specialty. So it wasn't surprising that Sue would include some in the routine, and it also wasn't surprising that she'd take it to extreme levels. By now, the Cheerios had spread out across the gym. Kitty was at the far side of the group, and she had to back flip all the way to the other end. Last time Blaine counted, that meant eleven back flips in a row.

If anyone could do it, it was Kitty. Still, Blaine found himself holding his breath as she began (then immediately letting it out, because dancing required a whole lot of breathing).

One. Two. Blaine counted to himself as she flipped, one after another, with no time in between. Three. The routine called for a spin then, so Blaine missed the next few. By the time he and the other Cheerios were facing the front again, she was halfway across the gym, almost directly in front of Blaine.

Two more flips. She was almost there now. Just a few more and they would have done it. Blaine was barely paying attention to the dance now, letting muscle memory take over as he – and everyone else in the room – watched.

He had watched her flip more times than he could count this week. He knew the signs when she was getting tired, knew what to look for to tell that she was going to fall. That's why he and probably every other Cheerio who was close enough noticed the way her arms trembled just a bit as she flipped herself. Blaine's breath caught, half-expecting her to collapse right there, feeling their chances of winning drain away. But she was so close. Just one more flip. If she could get through that-

He watched her hands hit the floor, and she flipped herself perfectly. Her arms didn't give out. All that was left was to stick the landing, and then Blaine knew that they would win. He could practically taste victory already, and could picture them all hoisting the trophy in the air as the announcer declared them the two-time National champions.

For a split-second, it looked like Kitty was going to land perfectly, balance her weight properly and throw her arms above her head, beaming at the audience the way that she had the past dozen times she'd done this routine. Her feet hit the floor, and Blaine thought, _She did it._

Then Kitty fell.


	23. Chapter 23

**Thanks, as always, to my awesome beta, Tuuzmorado.**

* * *

Everything seemed frozen for about a second, as everyone just stared in shock and the last notes of the song faded away. Then Blaine snapped back into focus.

He was the first person to reach Kitty, just as she was sitting up. "Are you okay?" he asked, crouching next to her.

She turned and glared at him, made slightly less intimidating by the way she was rubbing her ankle and wincing. "Of course I'm fine," she snapped. "I've fallen a million times during practice. Why the hell would I get hurt this time?"

"Right." That didn't stop Blaine from worrying, though, especially since the look on her face didn't exactly reassure him. He stood and offered her a hand to help her up. She took it without complaint and allowed him to haul her to her feet, which was another thing that worried him. Normally Kitty would've slapped his hand away and grumbled that one fall didn't mean she couldn't stand on her own.

"What happened?" Brittany asked, appearing on Kitty's other side and looking concerned. "Did your feet break?"

"I'm fine," she snapped again, though she limped slightly when she took a step.

"Here." Blaine brought her arm over his shoulders and wrapped his own arm around her waist, trying to support as much of her weight as he could. To his surprise, she didn't protest. "You sure you're okay to walk?" he asked. "I could carry you if you want."

Kitty snorted. "Yeah, like you'd make it two steps without dropping me. Maybe you enjoy that damsel-in-distress crap, but it usually works better when you're taller than the girl you're trying to carry."

Blaine mock-scowled. "Hey, I'm at least half a foot taller than you," he protested. "Besides, I've done lifts with Brittany before and I've never dropped her." He turned to Brittany, expecting her to back him up.

She nodded earnestly. "It's a lot of fun," she said. "He was swaying so much it was like a carnival ride. You should try it."

Blaine frowned. Not exactly helpful. "Thanks, Brittany."

"You're welcome," she said brightly, obviously not realizing that he had meant that sarcastically.

"Whatever," Kitty grumbled. "I'm fine walking, so can we just get out of this gym so the judges can stop staring at me?" Blaine glanced back and realized that the whole audience was indeed watching them, and quickly picked up the pace, feeling bad that he hadn't thought to get her out of there as quickly as he could. Of course the last thing Kitty would want was for everyone to keep watching her after her big fall.

"Sue is going to kill me, isn't she?" Kitty asked quietly.

"Uh," Blaine said, trying to think of something reassuring. "It wasn't your fault. You didn't get enough time to practice. Sue's got to see that." Blaine didn't actually believe that – this was Sue they were talking about. When was the last time she was reasonable about anything? But maybe if he said it with enough confidence, it would make Kitty feel better.

"Sue said she'd lock us in the gym and make us battle to the death if we lost," Brittany said. "The three of us can team up and survive together. It might actually be fun. I've already hid secret food stashes under the bleachers so we won't go hungry."

"Sue wasn't actually serious about that," Blaine said. Well, he wouldn't necessarily be surprised if she attempted it, but even Sue wouldn't be able to get away with holding several dozen students hostage for an extended period of time. At least, he hoped.

Brittany frowned. "Don't tell Lord Tubbington that. He's already mad that I took all his tuna, and he'll be really angry if he learns that I didn't need to hide food, after all."

Blaine sincerely hoped that the janitors would find that before it started to rot.

They'd reached the door on the far side of the gym. It was identical to the hallway that they had waited in before the routine, with a staircase leading to the upper levels of the school. Blaine led Kitty through the crowd of confused Cheerios – all of whom just seemed to be standing around with no idea what to do – and helped her sit down on the bottom step.

"What hurts?" Blaine asked, kneeling down in front of her. "Your ankle?"

She nodded but rolled her eyes. "It's just a sprain. Seriously, I've done Sue's crazy twenty-minute halftime routines with way worst. Stop looking like you expect my whole foot to fall off."

"You should still wrap it, though," he said, gingerly feeling her ankle. It wasn't swollen, and she could move it without wincing, so those seemed like good signs. "And try not to walk on it for a while." He didn't add that that wouldn't be a problem, since there was no way they'd have a chance at moving on to the second part of the competition. The team had originally planned on practicing all afternoon (Sue apparently brought a giant container of tennis balls to throw at anyone who took a break), but there wouldn't be any point to that now. But that was the last thing he needed to point out to Kitty. From the look on her face, she was probably already well aware of that.

"Here," a quiet voice from behind Blaine said. He turned and saw one of the freshman girls nervously holding out a first aid kit. "You need bandages, right?"

"Thanks," he said, taking it from her. She just nodded and stood their awkwardly for a moment before walking away. Blaine quickly got to work wrapping Kitty's ankle. After years of dancing (not to mention lacrosse, polo, boxing, and fight club), he'd gotten pretty good at taking care of minor injuries like this.

"I told you, my ankle is fine. No need to fuss over it," Kitty grumbled. Blaine didn't even bother to acknowledge her. She huffed and leaned back against the steps, crossing her arms and scowling at him every time he glanced up.

"Okay, that does feel better," Kitty admitted when Blaine was done.

"Told you," he said, turning to stick the rest of the bandages back into the first aid kit. Apparently Brittany had been having fun with it while he'd been focusing on Kitty's ankle, because Brittany's arms were covered in about a dozen sparkly band-aids from the kit. As he watched, Brittany pulled out another one and stuck it to the bandages on Kitty's ankle.

"Because sparkles make things better," she explained, completely seriouse. Blaine smiled a little and reached over to take the rest of the box from her, before she could use them all up and not leave any for the people who might actually need them someday. "Kisses work even better, but your boyfriend isn't here, and that's his job."

"What boyfriend?" Kitty asked with a snort. "Puck and I weren't dating. I was using him to take me places and buy me things in exchange for fun times in the back of his car – which we couldn't do anywhere else, considering that he's too much of a loser to actually go to college and has to break into random dorm rooms to crash with the drunken-frat-boy losers, and there's no way that I'm taking him home and letting him infect my room. And anyway, that's over."

Brittany and Blaine both frowned. Blaine hadn't heard anything about this – last he'd known, she and Puck were still together. (Which was an absolutely horrible thing, and they should have broken up months ago, but every time he tried to point that out, she just said, "Duh" and changed the subject.)

Brittany must have been thinking along the same lines. "Two weeks ago you told me that we should double date so that we could laugh at our stupid boyfriends together," she said. "Which wasn't nice, by the way, because Sam isn't stupid. Or Puck. But that's what you said, so I know you were dating."

"Well, now we're not," Kitty practically growled, then shook her head and glared around the hallway. "How long are we going to wait around doing absolutely nothing? Isn't there someplace that we should be?"

Blaine knew she was changing the subject on purpose, but decided to let it go. If she didn't want to talk about it, then he wouldn't force her. Not now, at least. "Sue said that after we finished the routine, we're supposed to wait here until she tells us what to do," he said with a frown, ignoring the way Kitty grumbled that of course she already knew that. "She should have been here by now," he said. After all, he knew that Sue had been in the audience watching, so of course she knew what had happened. She should have followed them immediately to yell that they were pathetic losers (or whatever insult she decided to use on them today).

"She's probably giving us time to think about it," Kitty said. "Letting us stew in our own failure before she punishes us for it."

"It wasn't your fault," Blaine said immediately, almost more of a knee-jerk reaction than anything else. He didn't want to see Kitty feel bad about this, and was instinctively trying to comfort her, which only made her scoff and roll her eyes. But at the same time, he was trying to figure out where Sue could possibly be. Kitty's guess made sense, but something didn't exactly feel right. He had a weird feeling that there was more to it than that, but he had no idea what.

His thoughts were cut off by the doors crashing open. Even before he turned to look, Blaine knew at once that Sue had finally arrived.

"You sad sacks of pathetic failure," she said slowly, glaring around the room. Blaine tensed, waiting to see what her next move would be. For a minute, she did nothing but give them the evil eye, which made Blaine think that maybe Kitty was right about Sue giving them time to think it over. He knew that the look on her face was definitely making him nervous about what punishment could possibly be coming.

Suddenly, she snapped her fingers and pointed straight at Kitty. "Sparkle Hair, you're in charge of carrying her. I can't afford to waste time on watching her hobble around on one leg. Throw her over your shoulder or drag her by her hair, I don't really care, just hurry up. Everyone, follow me." Sue pushed through the crowd to the steps and started jogging away, Becky right behind her, both of them stepping over Kitty like she wasn't even there.

Blaine didn't know what that nickname could possibly mean, but he'd learned that practically every insult that mention hair was directed at him. He stood and hooked one arm under Kitty's knees, wrapping the other one around her waist and lifting her easily, bridal-style. "Told you I could carry you," he couldn't resist mumbling.

Kitty didn't act as though she'd heard him. "Is it just me, or is this creepier than if she'd screamed at us?" she asked. "What's she up to?"

"I think we'd better go find out," he said, starting up the stairs after her with the rest of the squad following close behind. Given how angry Sue must be about their loss, he wouldn't dare to do anything that could make it worse.

* * *

"Seriously, guys, where do you think they went?" Tina asked at lunch.

Sam shrugged and took another bite of the soggy sandwich he'd bought from the cafeteria. After Kitty had fallen, there had been a big debate in the group over whether they should run over to check on her or wait until later. She'd been limping and leaning on Blaine as she walked away, which kind of worried everyone and made them want to go check on her immediately. But still, she'd seemed fine (except for the ankle), so it wasn't like this was a super emergency. Marley especially wanted to go check on her right away – more to make sure she wasn't beating herself up over her mistake than to check on her ankle – but they'd been afraid that they'd just make Sue even angrier if she saw them. And the last thing they wanted was for Sue to get mad at the glee club's presence and take it out on Kitty.

By the time they'd headed over to the hallway where the team had exited, it had been completely empty, with no sign of where the Cheerios could be. So they'd gone back to watch more of the performances, figuring that the Cheerios would come back immediately – after all, it wasn't like they had any reason to keep practicing, so what else would they do all day? But there had been no sign of them. They'd sent a few texts, but had never gotten responses. It was starting to get freaky.

Okay, maybe not freaky. Clearly the squad had just headed off to some place that Sam and the rest of the group didn't know. But still, Sam really wanted to know where that place could possibly be.

"We'll see them when the judges announce the results, right?" Joe said, smiling as his girlfriend stole one of the fries. He absentmindedly pushed the plate closer to her. "I mean, they're sure to show up for that, at least. When is that?"

"The last team performs at twelve-twenty," Tina said at once. "Then there's a half hour break for lunch, and the results will be released right after that."

"You sound like you memorized the schedule word-for-word," Sam said. When she gave him a sour look, he asked, "What? It's cool. Like you have super-memory."

She shook her head but actually smiled a little bit, much to Sam's surprise. "If you say so."

"So we have an hour to kill," Ryder said, glancing down at his watch. "I'd still like to try to find them, just to make sure Kitty's okay and Sue hasn't done anything crazy to her." Besides Marley, he'd been the one who'd fought the hardest in favor of checking on Kitty immediately after the fall, and he'd grumbled and sulked when the others convinced him to wait until Sue had had a chance to calm down so that their presence wouldn't make her go insane.

"Yeah, but it's not like we have any idea where they went," Artie pointed out.

"Besides, Blaine will take care of her," Sam said. "Brittany, too," he added as an afterthought. Because Brittany would definitely do a good job cheering up Kitty if she was bummed about the fall. Brittany was like a puppy – nobody could resist her sweetness.

"Don't you think you're overreacting a bit," Coleen (Joe's girlfriend) suggested a bit hesitantly. "The stuff about Sue, I mean. She can't be as bad as you say."

Sam and everyone else in the group snorted. She'd never been in the Cheerios or New Directions, so it wasn't like she'd experienced Sue firsthand. Still, it was surprising that she'd managed to go to McKinley for any period of time without seeing Sue throw some random students into a locker during her mega-rages.

The rest of the group started exchanging their worst (or best, depending on how you look at it) Sue stories. Sam zoned out a bit around the time Artie was telling a story about how she tried to rip his teeth out with pliers two years ago. He was pretty sure that this conversation was going to go on for a long time, and he didn't really care enough to pay attention.

A few minutes later, his phone started to vibrate. He pulled it out and grinned when he realized who it was from.

"Blaine just texted," Sam said, the second Marley was done telling some story (Sam hadn't heard enough to know what it was about). "They're all in one of the other buildings, and he wants to know if we can bring him, Kitty, and Brittany something for lunch." Sam was already standing as he spoke, moving to throw his nasty sandwich into the trash.

"Why didn't they come get lunch themselves?" Jake asked, as the rest of the group also stood. "And what have they been doing?"

"Don't know." Sam hadn't asked questions, just texted Blaine that of course they could. He figured they could get the details later, when they all met up.

According to Blaine, the Cheerios had gone to one of the other buildings. Sam found it pretty easily (with a ton of help from Tina, who was a lot better at directions than he was). He was expecting to have to look all over the building, but he saw Blaine, Kitty, and Brittany immediately. They were in the building's giant lobby, sitting on chairs that clearly had originally been placed all around the room, but had been shoved up against the walls.

"Thanks," Blaine said as the group walked over to the three of them. He grinned and reached eagerly for the water bottle Sam offered him, looking way more exhausted than he should have been just from doing the routine once a few hours ago.

Kitty scoffs even as she takes the sandwich that Ryder offered her (not the same disgusting kind that Sam had gotten – he'd made sure to buy them better food). "I told you," she said, scooting over slightly to give Ryder room to drop onto the loveseat next to her, "my ankle barely hurts anymore. I could have walked to the cafeteria on my own."

Brittany nodded. "The sparkles cured her."

"You should still rest it, just to make sure nothing bad does happen," Blaine said as Sam dropped into the chair next to him. Blaine turned to smile at him quickly before turning back to Kitty. "Especially since you've been dancing on it all afternoon."

"Dancing?" Ryder asked.

"You're all acting like you expect my foot to explode any second," Kitty said, crossing her arms and glaring at Blaine. "Seriously, the next person to try to take care of me will be forced to watch me execute one of my perfect back flips that ends with my completely-fine ankle being used to propel my foot straight into their face. Got it?"

Blaine held up his hands in surrender, looking exasperated in a way that made Sam think that this wasn't the first time they'd argued over this. "Better safe then sorry, though," he said, then laughed and ducked when Kitty threw her half-empty water bottle at his head.

"Why have you guys been dancing?" Artie asked. He'd rolled his chair up next to Kitty's, and the rest of the club had dropped into the surrounding chairs.

"No idea," Blaine said before taking a giant bite of his lunch.

While he was chewing, Kitty jumped in. "Because Sue is even crazier than normal," she said. "We've been going through out second routine all morning."

"Why?" Ryder asked, turning to Kitty with a confused look on his face. "You're not going to move on. We saw a ton of routines, and none of them were as good as yours, but they didn't fall, either, so that automatically puts them ahead of you." Then he seemed to realize what he'd said and added, "Sorry! It wasn't like it was your fault, but still. I mean, nobody else could have even done half that many flips! You were awesome! And-"

Kitty cut him off. "Yeah, yeah, I know, we're not moving on. Try telling that to Sue. Apparently she never got that message."

"Something about this doesn't seem right," Blaine said quietly, looking like he was talking to himself more than anything. "I think she's planning something."

"It's Sue," Tina said, as if that explained everything. "She's always up to something."

"This seems different, though," Blaine said. "I think something big is going to go down. No way will Sue just give up on winning Nationals that easily. The fact that we're still practicing proves it."

"So, what?" Marley asked, not sounding sarcastic. It was more like she honestly wanted to know. "Even if Sue is up to something, it's not like there's anything we could do about it."

Sam and Blaine exchanged a look, and Sam knew exactly what they were both thinking. Maybe there wasn't anything that most people would be able to do, but Nightbird and Blonde Chameleon were made for these situations. It was the whole reason Blaine joined the Cheerios in the first place. Okay, well, Blaine had actually joined so that he could sneak into her office and look for incriminating evidence, but that hadn't worked out, so this would be close enough.

If only Sam had thought to bring their costumes! Oh, well. The costumes would probably make them stick out too much, anyway.

"What time is it, anyway?" Blaine asked.

"Twelve-twenty-five," Sam answered after looking at his watch quick. "Why?"

Blaine groaned. "Sue said our break only goes until twelve-thirty. I'm pretty sure she threatened to boil us all in oil if anyone is even a little bit late." He slumped down in his chair, giving Sam a pathetic, kicked-puppy look. "I don't want to go back to practicing."

Sam chuckled and reached over to ruffle Blaine's hair. "One more day, then you'll be done."

"Don't you dare!" Blaine practically shrieked, shoving Sam's hand away. Which just made Sam laugh, especially when the rest of the club turned toward them to see what was going on. Blaine gave him his best glare, which wasn't very effective. Blaine was just too adorable to pull of intimidating. "It's already messed up enough as it is. You don't need to make it worse."

"It's already messed up, so what's the point of keeping it neat?" Sam countered, moving to ruffle Blaine's hair again. Blaine scooted up onto the armrest in an attempt to move out of Sam's reach, covering his hair with his hands, though he was obviously trying to hide a grin. "Besides, you have the fluffiest hair ever. I wanna play with it."

"No way," Blaine said. "You're not getting anywhere near my hair. Especially when we're in public, and other people will have to see it all messed up." Sam moved closer, but Blaine slapped his hand away. Really hard, too. "Nope."

"Fine," Sam grumbled, though he couldn't hold back his own smile. "But you're coming over to my house after work tomorrow, right? I am totally going to mess up your hair then!"

"If we're alone in your apartment, I'll even let you." Blaine dropped his hands from his head and settled back onto the chair. There wasn't a whole lot of room for the two of them, so he ended up sitting half on Sam's lap.

"Ugh, your love is so sickening," Kitty said, jumping to her feet and going to throw her trash away. Sam noticed that she was still limping just a little bit, but not nearly as badly as she had earlier. That was a good sign, right? "I'll gouge out my eyes if I have to watch you any longer. Let me know when you're done being so disgustingly adorable."

Blaine snorted. "Don't hold your breath," he said, then looked to Sam as if asking if that had been okay.

Sam nodded and threw his arms around Blaine, squeezing him super tight. "We're always going to be adorable," he said.

"And I repeat, ugh," Kitty said, pretending to gag before turning away and dropping into Ryder's lap. Ryder looked surprised at the sudden contact, but not at all unhappy.

Sam grinned. This was the closest he and Blaine had ever come to flirting when other people were around, and he had to admit, he really liked it. He especially liked the way that the rest of the glee club didn't even glance in their direction, too caught up in their own conversations to notice. Or maybe they knew what was going on, and just didn't think it was worth commenting on. Now that he thought about it, he and Blaine did all sorts of stuff that could be considered flirting even before he'd known that he liked Blaine. Maybe everyone else was just used to it.

He didn't quite think he could do it in front of the jerks at school – he didn't want to be hit with yet another slushy. But acting like this around the glee club? It felt nice.

"Okay, you crybabies!" Sue suddenly screamed into her bullhorn, loud enough to make everyone flinch and cover their ears. "I gave you the precious little lunch break you asked for. If you'd listened to my advice and trained yourself to survive off nothing but pom poms and sweat, then we wouldn't have had this problem. But I was nice and allowed you time for that disgusting food you insist on shoving down your pie holes, and not it's time to get back to work. You have three minutes to get into position."

"I guess that's our cue to leave," Marley said, as the whole group stood. "We'll see you in half an hour when they announce the results, right?"

"Yup, see you then," Blaine said.

"I think I'll stay here for a while," Sam said, settling back into his the chair. "That is, if Sue doesn't kick me out."

"Uh, I will, too," Ryder said.

Sam raised his eyebrows, wondering why he'd want to – though Sam had his suspicions, most of which had to do with Kitty. Tina and a couple of the others looked surprised, but Marley and Jake just nodded like they'd expected it.

"Later," Jake said, as the group started to leave.

"Oh, come on," Kitty practically growled. "Now you're acting worse than Blaine. One sprained ankle isn't going to kill me."

"I know," Ryder said, looking vaguely uncomfortable. "It's just-"

"Whatever," she said. Sam swore he saw her smile for a minute before walking off. That might have been his imagination, though.

Brittany sat down on the arm of Sam's chair and leaned close to his ear. "Kitty was right about you and Blaine giving each other love looks," she whispered.

"Uh." Sam didn't really have any way to react to that. Out of everyone in the glee club, the person he dreaded coming out to the most was Brittany. Not because he didn't think she'd be fine with him being bisexual – of course she would be – but because he didn't know how to tell her that he'd chosen Blaine over her. There just didn't seem to be a nice way to say that.

"Well?" Brittany asked. "Are you?"

"Uh," Sam said again, then shook himself and tried to come up with something better. He wished he had thought to come up with an answer for this earlier, except he hadn't exactly known that Brittany would ask him this. He glanced to the side and saw that Ryder and Blaine were about ten feet away, talking about something. Kitty was in the center of the room with the rest of the squad. Anything he said would stay between him and Brittany.

"Come on, you can tell me," she said, giving his shoulder a light, almost playful shake.

"Yeah," Sam said, before he'd even really made a decision or known he was saying it. "Yeah, I guess we are. I mean, we-" He stopped, because he had no idea what to say next, or why he'd just said anything at all. That definitely hadn't been part of the plan, at least not for another week.

Brittany squealed and clapped her hands, a grin suddenly forming on her face. "I'm really happy," she said, leaning forward and hugging him tightly, sliding off the arm rest and into his lap as she did.

Sam frowned. "What? I mean, you're not hurt or... something?" He'd expected this to at least hurt her feelings, maybe to even make her cry again. Because Sam remembered how it felt to have a girl choose someone else over him – it'd happened way too often – and he knew how much it sucked to know that you were second best, even when the girl insisted that that wasn't true.

She pulled back and looked his straight in the eye, her face unusually serious, like they were discussing some grave subject. "Love is a good thing," she said. "I thought that you broke up with me because you liked someone else, even if you said that that wasn't the reason. I like being right, and I like that you have someone to love, because love makes people happy." All of a sudden, her smile reappeared. "And Blaine loves you, too. Blaine's my friend, so I want him to be happy."

"So, you're really not upset," he asked in a low voice. She didn't look like she was, but Sam didn't quite believe that. He wanted to be sure.

Brittany tilted her head, looking like she was thinking hard. "I think I'm glad that you didn't tell me last week," she finally said. "I think it would have hurt more then than it does now. But I love both you and Santana, so I can't be upset that you someone else, too."

"I love you, too," Sam said. "Just, you know, not in a dating way."

"Exactly," she said. She leaned forward and gave his a kiss on the cheek, then jumped off his lap and ran over to join the Cheerios. He turned in his chair in time to see her throw her arms around Blaine, jumping up and down and looking like she was talking super fast. Sam chuckled, making a mental note to tell her not to talk about this with anyone, then shook his head and decided that Blaine would probably take care of that.

"I thought you two broke up," Ryder said, sitting down across from Sam.

"We did," Sam said, rubbing his cheek where she'd kissed and chuckling when he saw the lipstick that had rubbed off onto his hand. His cheek was probably a giant red smear. He'd have to wash that off pretty soon so he wouldn't look ridiculous, but he decided to keep it for now.

"So, why is she climbing into your lap and kissing you?" Ryder asked, looking more confused than judgmental. "I mean, I think that's more flirting than I saw from you even when you were together."

"I don't know," Sam said with a shrug, though he realized that Ryder was right. He and Brittany had done a ton of stuff while alone at their houses, but neither of them had really acted like much of a couple at school. Breaking up should have ruined their relationship, but in a lot of ways, this felt better. They didn't have to get caught up in the idea of dating, and could just do whatever they wanted as friends.

He turned in his seat again, in time to see the Cheerios scramble into position, and couldn't help but smile. "Brittany's just really incredible."


	24. Chapter 24

**As always, thanks so much to my beta, Tuuzmorado.**

**Blam Week starts next Monday! I'm super excited and definitely going to take part. :) I'm planning on posting seven stories next week, one for each day. Which means that I won't have as much time to write this story, so the next chapter is probably going to be late, unless I decide to have some super-crazy writing marathon. Which I might, but I probably won't. So if the next chapter is late (or doesn't come until next week), I apologize in advance.**

* * *

Sam honestly hadn't expected Sue to let him and Ryder watch for long. Sure, there wasn't any harm in trying, but he'd figured that the first thing Sue did would be to kick them out before the practicing started. Instead, Sue didn't even glance in their direction before she had the Cheerios start the routine.

Sam was surprised, but he obviously didn't say anything. He just tried to hide behind the chair as much as possibly and hoped that Sue wouldn't notice him. Because the second Cheerio routine was sweet, and Blaine and Brittany did an awesome job on the vocals. Sam wouldn't complain if he got away with watching it all afternoon.

"Sloppy!" Sue shouted into her megaphone as soon as they were done. "Do it again, exactly like that, only without the failure." The Cheerios all nodded and hurried to get back into the starting position. Sue bent and said something to Becky, who was standing by her side. Becky nodded and ran off to a bag in the corner of the room, returning a second later with a manilla envelope in her hands. Sue took the envelope and handed her the megaphone in return, then turned and walked off.

"Okay, losers! We're going to run this again and again until we get this right!" Becky announced. "Hurry up and get ready! Go! Go!"

Ryder turned to Sam and raised his eyebrows. "What do you think Sue's doing?"

Sam frowned, watching Sue. "I don't know. But she's up to something," Sam said as Sue walked out the door. The fact that they were still practicing was evidence enough, but this just made Sam twice as sure. He looked back over to the Cheerios and saw Blaine looking at him. As soon as their eyes met, Blaine nodded. Whatever Sue was doing, they were going to figure it out.

Blaine walked forward to Becky. "Where is Sue going?"

Becky scowled. "Get back into position, Gay Blaine. We're about to start."

"But don't you think it's a little weird?" he asked. "Did she tell you where she was going?"

Becky just raised the megaphone to her lips and shouted into it, "Go do the routine again or coach says that I'm allowed to get out the punishment stick again!"

Sam wasn't entirely sure what the punishment stick was, but knowing Sue it wouldn't be anything good. Blaine shot Sam an apologetic look and shrugged as he got back into position.

Sam got the message. Blaine wasn't allowed to leave, so that meant that it was up to Sam to figure this out on his own. He nodded as he stood and headed out the door. He wouldn't let Blaine down.

"Hey, where are you going?" Ryder asked. Sam turned around, surprised. He hadn't noticed that the other boy had followed him out.

"Shhh," Sam said, raising one finger to his lips. He glanced over his shoulder just in time to see Sue disappear into the main building. The one where the performances were being held. "I'm going to follow Sue to see what she's up to."

"What, do you think she's going to cheat?" Ryder asked.

"Or something like that," Sam said, starting toward the building. Ryder fell into step beside him. "Whatever it is, Blaine and I are going to figure it out! Just like we figured out when the Warblers were cheating." Now that he thought about it, he and Blaine were really good at this crime-solving thing. They should really think about doing this more often.

"Okay," Ryder said. They reached the building, and Ryder peered in through one of the windows before nodding at Sam. "It doesn't look like there's anyone in there. We should hurry before we lose Sue."

Sam thought about saying that this was his mission, not Ryder's, and that two people would attract more attention than one. But Ryder looked so excited about this idea, and he was a cool dude, so why not? Besides, when he and Blaine did this, Sam was usually the sidekick. It's be cool to be the one in charge this time. "Just make sure we stay far enough back that she doesn't see us," Sam said, before easing the door open and slipping inside.

They almost didn't see where Sue went, but at the last moment Ryder caught sight of her turning around a corner. He silently pointed in that direction, and Sam nodded and took off after her. After that, it was surprisingly easy to follow her. She was walking straight down the hall, but there were plenty of people walking around, so they could blend into the crowd. At least, they could until Sue turned down a completely empty hallway.

Sam glanced around the corner, just in time to see Sue make a second turn down another hallway. "Come on," he said, creeping forward. It didn't look like it'd be too hard to follow her this way, and there wasn't anyone else around to see that they were following her. He reached the other hallway that Sue had turned down and pressed his back against the wall, just around the corner from where she'd be walking, where she wouldn't be able to see him. He turned his head, expecting Ryder to be right beside him. Instead, Ryder was still at the end of the hall, staring at something on the wall. "Hurry up, we don't want to lose her," Sam hissed.

Ryder nodded and hurried over next to Sam. "What now?" he asked. Sam leaned forward and glanced around the hall, then pulled his head back before Sue could see him. "There's a ton of doorways we can hide in and display cases we can duck behind if she starts to turn around. Just run from one hiding spot to another and we'll be fine."

Ryder frowned. "Won't darting around like that just make it even more obvious that we're following her?"

Sam shook his head. "No, I'm pretty sure this will work." After all, that was the strategy in pretty much every spy movie ever. Why would they keep doing it if it didn't work?

Ryder looked doubtful, but didn't argue. "Okay. You go first, and I'll follow you."

"On the count of three," Sam said. "One, two-" He peered around the corner again, just to make sure Sue wouldn't see them, and to decide where his first hiding place was going to be. "Shit."

"What?" Ryder asked.

"She's gone." Sam stepped forward, staring around the empty hallway like Sue was going to suddenly appear out of nowhere. "She must have turned somewhere or gone into one of the rooms while we weren't looking."

"Oh." Ryder walked over, staring around the hall the same way that Sam was. "We can keep looking, though. I mean, it's not like she could have gotten that far. She's gotta be around here somewhere."

"Looking for me?"

Sam and Ryder both spun around as fast as they could, eyes widening when they saw Sue standing directly behind them. "What the-? How did you-?"

"Do you honestly think that I didn't know that you two were following me?" she asked, disdain clear in her voice.

"How did you see us?" Ryder asked. Sam was wondering the exact same thing, because he had been watching her this whole time, and he was absolutely positive that she hadn't even glanced behind her once this whole time they were following her.

"Not important," she said. "What is important is why you two weaklings were following me. I thought you had more important things to do in your free time, like bursting into song in inappropriate places or chocking from the fumes given off by Schuester's hair care products."

Ryder glanced at Sam, looking like he didn't know how to answer. Sam squared his shoulders. "We know that you're up to something."

"Oh?" Sue said, not sounding concerned. "And what might that be?"

"You're going to do something to make sure that the Cheerios still win even though Kitty fell," Sam said, feeling more certain with every word. It wasn't like he expected Sue to admit to it, but he knew that that must be what she was doing.

"And how do you say I'm going to do that?" Sue asked.

Okay, that part Sam didn't know.

"This is where the judges go to make their decision, right?" Ryder suddenly said. When Sam gave him a surprised look, he shrugged and said, "There was a sign back there that said that this area was for the judges only." Sam frowned - he'd seen that sign, but he hadn't payed much attention to it, and hadn't really bothered to read it. That must have been what Ryder was looking at earlier. "But you're going to bribe the judges into making McKinley first place, right?"

"Or blackmail them," Sam added, thinking about some of the rumors he'd heard about Sue blackmailing Figgins. Plus, that seemed like it was more Sue's style.

"So what if I was?" she asked. "Hypothetically speaking, let's say that this envelope did contain horrifying photo shopped images of the judges in various positions that could potentially cause them to lose their jobs if these images went viral? How are you going to prove it?"

"We saw you walking near the judges before the results were announced," Sam said. "If McKinley wins, that will be all the proof we need."

Sue actually chuckled at that. "You think that the word of you two is going to prove anything. Nobody in their right mind is going to accept that as evidence. Now, they may suspect that you're right, but without proof, there's nothing that anyone will be able to do." She smiled. "Now, I'm going to count to three, and you'd better hope that you never find out what I'm going to do if you're still standing in front of me when I'm done."

Sam and Ryder exchanged a look, then slowly turned and walked off. Sam didn't want to, but at the same time, he'd seen Sue do enough crazy stuff that he knew better than to call her bluff. Mostly because it wouldn't be a bluff, and she probably would do something terrible.

"And don't try that again!" Sue called after them. "I have cameras built into every inch of my clothes that send me an alert every time I get within fifty feet of one of you glee club losers. It gives me time to start holding my breath so that the scent of your putrid failure doesn't invade my nostrils."

Sam rolled his eyes at that but decided not to comment.

"So, any idea what we should do next?" Ryder asked. Sam just shrugged. This was the thing he kind of didn't like about being the hero instead of the sidekick. He was the one who had to figure out a new plan, and in this case, he didn't really have any idea what to do.

"Want to go somewhere and talk strategy?" Ryder suggested.

Sam agreed, since that sounded just as good as any idea he could come up with. Neither of them really cared where they went, so they ended up back in the gym. There were a few people already waiting for the award ceremony (which wouldn't start for another fifteen minutes), but it was mostly empty. Sam and Ryder grabbed seats in the front row.

"You heard Sue," Sam said. "She basically admitted that she's going to cheat. We just need a way to prove it."

"Any idea how to do that?" Ryder asked.

Sam shook his head. He hadn't really had time to come up with a backup strategy in case the following-Sue thing failed. "I guess we can talk to Blaine later and try to come up with something," he said. "Sue's too big of an enemy for us to handle alone. This is a job for Nightbird, Blonde Chameleon, and- What was your superhero name?"

Ryder frowned thought for a second. "I think it was Mega Stud."

Sam snorted but nodded. "And Mega Stud. Together, we'll fight the forces of evil and save the Cheerios competition!"

Ryder nodded eagerly, then stopped and asked, "So are we all heroes, or are some of us sidekicks?"

Sam grinned, thrilled that Ryder was taking this seriously. Normally only Blaine did that. The rest of the club normally rolled their eyes when Sam started talking about superheroes. They'd taken it seriously for about a week last semester, but after that, they'd all lost interest. "I'm Blaine's sidekick, and you're my sidekick."

"Wait, so I'm like a double sidekick?" Ryder asked, not looking too happy. "A sidekick-sidekick?"

Sam frowned. "When you say it like that, it sounds kind of weird," he admitted. "Okay, why don't we say that we're all heroes then? That will be a lot simpler."

"Sounds good," Ryder said. He held out his hand and Sam fist bumped him. Oh! They should all get special rings that they could hit together when they fist bumped! And say that they're the sources of their powers! Not that Sam actually knew what any of their powers were, but still, it sounded pretty sweet.

About a minute passed. The silence was starting to get awkward, so Sam cast his mind around for some way to break it, then grinned when he thought of something. "So, you and Kitty?"

"What do you mean?" Ryder asked, way too fast to be entirely casual.

Sam grinned and nudged Ryder with his shoulder. "I mean it looked like you two were flirting. So come on, you like her?"

"Not as bad as you and Blaine were flirting," Ryder grumbled, and Sam froze in surprise for a moment. Then Ryder shook his head and said, "Okay, I kind of like her. But I don't think she likes me back."

"It looked like she did to me," Sam said, deciding to brush off Ryder's comment about him and Blaine flirting. He didn't know how seriously Ryder meant it, and there was no point making a big deal out of it. Besides, even if Ryder did know something, it wouldn't exactly be a big deal. Not the way it would be if someone like Bobby or Lipoff found out.

"Yeah, but last week she was still dating Puck," Ryder said. Oh, yeah. Sam had forgotten about that, to be honest. Mostly because the thought of them dating was super creepy. "And she auditioned on Wednesday with Artie instead of with me. I think she likes him more."

"She turned you down when you asked to duet with her?" Sam asked.

"Uh..." Ryder asked.

"You never asked her if she wanted to audition together," Sam guessed, and could tell from the look on Ryder's face that he'd gotten it right.

"I was going to, but she agreed to sing with Artie before I got the chance," Ryder said defensively.

Sam shrugged. "Maybe she and Artie are friends," he suggested. It seemed like a weird combination, but then, that was the cool thing about Glee club. At the beginning of sophomore year, he never would have expected to make friends with half of the people he met through Glee. "She could still like you." He nudged Ryder's arm again. "Come on, ask her out."

"I'll think about it," Ryder said, and Sam could tell he actually would, and wasn't just saying that to shut him up.

"How did you two get to know each other, anyway?" Sam asked. Because last he knew, Jake and Ryder had both been pretty pissed at the way she treated Marley. Which made sense - pretty much the whole glee club felt the same way, except for Marley, because she was way too nice and forgiving for her own good.

Ryder shrugged. "It happened a couple weeks ago," he said. Obviously there was more to the story, and Sam was tempted to ask what it was, but decided to hold back, figuring that Ryder would share it if he wanted to. And sure enough, after a minute Ryder said, "Okay, you remember when you asked about Katie last week, and I didn't explain what happened to her?"

"Yeah," Sam said. He didn't remember the actual conversation too well, but he did have a vague idea that something like that had happened. It had been right after Ryder invited him to hang out, if Sam remembered right, and before they'd watched Blaine, Kitty, and Brittany do that awesome routine in the gym.

"So, Katie was this girl I met online," Ryder said. "At least, well, I thought she was. I was IMing her in the library last Monday when Kitty came over and started reading over my shoulder. She said that Katie was in her math class, except that Katie's real name was Marissa."

"Oh," Sam said, starting to get an idea where this was going.

"Yeah, so I talked to Marissa the next day, and she had absolutely no idea who I was," Ryder said with a small shrug.

"That really sucks," Sam said. "Wait, then who was the real Katie?"

"Don't know." Ryder shrugged again. "Honestly, I don't really care. Probably some pervert on the Internet for all I know. I'm just glad I found out before..." He hesitated, then said, "There was some personal stuff that I was going to tell her, back when I thought that Katie was real. It was stuff that I hadn't really shared with anyone, so it was a really big deal that I wanted to tell her. I was literally right about to type the words when Kitty walked over - I'd already told Katie that I wanted to share a secret with her any everything."

Sam winced, just imagining it. Obviously he didn't know what secret Ryder was talking about, but from the sound of his voice, it definitely wasn't anything good.

"So anyway, Kitty started bugging me about what my big secret was," Ryder continued. "And I kept telling her that it wasn't any of her business, but she just kept asking, and I guess I had spent so long thinking about sharing it with Katie that I wanted to tell someone. So I finally told her." He shook his head. "I don't really know why I did. I mean, this is something nobody but my parents knew about. But Kitty and I talked about it, and she helped a lot more than I thought she would."

Sam nodded, not entirely sure what to say to that. "You know, I'm here if you want to talk about it with someone. Or, you know, there's Blaine and Jake and Marley. And pretty much the whole glee club." Sam wasn't sure if Ryder would want to share his big secret with most of the club, but he knew that they'd all be there if Ryder decided to.

Ryder smiled and nodded back. "I don't know, I probably will eventually. Just not right now. And anyway, it helped a lot just to have one person to talk to."

"Okay," Sam said, deciding not to push it. If Ryder ever wanted to talk, then Sam would listen, but he wasn't about to try to force Ryder into telling him. "Oh, there's the rest of the club," he said as he spotted them coming through the door.

Ryder glanced down at his watch. "They're right on time. I think the judging is supposed to start in a minute."

"Hey, I thought you were with the Cheerios," Marley said as she and the rest of the club joined them.

"Sue kicked us out, so we came here to wait," Sam said, deciding not to explain about the failed attempt at following her, or their suspicions that Sue was cheating. "Figured we'd grab seats now before the whole gym filled up." And it looked like it was going to fill up fast, especially now that the cheerleading teams were also sitting in the stands. The gym was absolutely enormous, but even so, there were a ton of teams competing. (Sam didn't know the exact number of teams, but he knew it was a big number.) Pretty soon there's be standing room only.

Sure enough, by the time the judges arrived a few minutes later, every single seat had been taken, and there were crowds gathered along the sides of the gym. Sam hadn't seen Sue's team arrive, but he knew they must be around here somewhere, lost in the crowd of people.

Sam only half-listened as the judge explained that the teams with the ten highest scores would move on to the next round. The tenth place team would perform first, then the ninth place, and on and on until the first place team had performed. Then the judges would pick the top three, which would be announced at the official award ceremony that night. Blaine had already explained the rules a million times, so Sam knew what was happening. The judge read off the winners, starting with tenth place and moving up. Which took forever, because after he read a name, he'd wait for the entire team to make their way to the gymnasium floor. And it felt even longer, because Sam was listening intently, waiting for McKinley High to be called. It never was.

Finally, there was only one team left. The judge looked down at the paper in his hand, then announced, "And for the first place team, the last team to move on into the final round, we have-"

Sam realized he was holding his breath, even though he was pretty sure he knew what was going to happen.

"-the McKinley High Cheerios!"


	25. Chapter 25

**I've decided to change the update schedule. I started several new stories during Blam week, and I with my current update schedule, I wouldn't have much time to work on them because I'd be too busy writing this story. So for right now, I'm going to cut back to updating once a week, on Saturdays. Hopefully in a few weeks I'll be back to updating twice a week,.**

**As always, I'd like to thank my beta, Tuuzmorado.**

* * *

Blaine and the rest of the Cheerios spent the rest of the afternoon practicing the long routine, except for a half hour before their performance that was spent cleaning up and changing into clean uniforms. (Sue had strictly forbid any of them from sweating in front of the judges.) By the time the actual routine came, they were all tired, but not so much that it interfered with their performance. Everything went perfectly, and he could tell from the way that they crowd cheered that they all loved it.

Blaine had to admit, he was kind of happy that they still got the chance to perform. He and the squad had worked hard on this routine, and it would have been a shame if they hadn't got a chance to show it off. Of course, he knew that cheating was wrong, and he still planned on exposing Sue, if he could. But he had to admit that the spotlight felt awesome.

Afterward, Sue had the entire squad sit with her to watch the rest of the teams perform so that they could "revel in their pathetic attempts to beat us". It was incredibly interesting – some of the other teams had amazing moves, though judging by the way Sue sneered at all of them, she didn't agree. But still, the performances lasted for hours, especially with the long breaks in between each routine. (Blaine wasn't entirely sure why the teams couldn't just perform one after another, but apparently the judges needed extra time to talk or take notes or something like that.) Meaning that it was almost eight o'clock before Blaine got the chance to go see the glee club.

Marley had texted him saying that the glee club was in the cafeteria getting dinner (which Blaine hoped they'd still be serving when he got there), so Blaine, Kitty, and Brittany headed down there to meet them.

"You did great!" Tina exclaimed as soon as Blaine, Kitty, and Brittany approached the table where the rest of the glee club was sitting. She jumped to her feet to hug him. He smiled and squeezed her back for a moment, then stepped away.

"Yeah, that routine was off the chain, yo," Artie added.

Blaine smiled. "Thanks. We're going to go grab something to eat, okay?" It looked like everyone else had already gotten their food, probably during the last routine, since Blaine hadn't seen them in the audience for that one.

Sam scrambled to his feet. "I'm going to go get something else, to," he said, hurrying over to go stand by Blaine. He met Blaine's eyes and nodded. Blaine had a feeling he knew what this was really about. So when the girls walked over to the salad bar, Blaine grabbed his tray and headed over to where the servers were dishing out some sort of pasta dish, which was in the complete opposite direction.

Sure enough, as soon as they were far enough away, Sam leaned forward and whispered, "Ryder and I didn't find out anything."

"Nothing?" Blaine asked as he held up his plate for the server to fill with food.

Sam shook his head. "Well, not nothing," he amended. "We saw Sue going to the place where the judges were making their decision, but we didn't get any proof that she was cheating."

"You didn't find anything else?" Blaine asked as he walked over the drinks, Sam following close behind.

Sam thought about that for a moment. "Well, Ryder and Kitty are probably going to start dating soon," he added with a grin.

"Gossiping about me, Trouty?" Kitty asked from right behind them. Sam jumped, though honestly, Blaine wasn't terribly surprised. He hadn't heard her approach, but she was a lot like Sue at times. It figured that she'd have Sue's ability to overhear practically everything. "That's not so smart, considering the kind of gossip I have on you and your boy toy." Luckily, she looked more amused than upset.

"Yeah, but if you were going to say anything, you would have done it last week," Sam said with a grin.

Kitty raised her eyebrows. "Don't underestimate me," she said, giving Sam a long look before walking away.

Blaine smiled, though it slipped slightly when he noticed that she was limping slightly. He moved forward to offer to help her, but Ryder got there before he could. Ryder took her tray from her and carried it in one hand, wrapping the other arm around her waste. Kitty shoved him away, though she was smiling, which just made Ryder laugh and try to grab her again.

Blaine turned back to Sam as he walked over to grab a drink. "Okay, I think you're right about those two," he said, which made Sam nod enthusiastically. "And ignore what she said. She's not actually going to out you, no matter how much she threatens to." At least, Blaine was pretty sure. With Kitty, it was hard to predict anything, but he didn't think she would actually do something like that. He had to admit that he wouldn't have put it past her at the beginning of the year, but she'd changed a lot since then.

Sam nodded again, looking more serious this time. "Oh, I know," he said. "I'm more worried about the fact that Santana's nickname is apparently spreading." Blaine chuckled. After a moment Sam added, "I wouldn't be too upset if she did, you know. I mean, it would suck to not get to choose when to say it, but I don't really care about the glee club knowing. I don't think. Plus, actually saying it will probably be the really hard part, so..." Sam let his voice trail off, then shrugged.

Blaine couldn't help but smile. "That's a big difference than how you acted last week, you know. A week ago you still didn't want to tell anyone." Not that Sam had ever admitted it in so many words, but Blaine had been able to tell. Even on Monday Sam had obviously felt that way. If Sam was telling the truth, then this was a huge change of attitude.

Though Blaine did notice that Sam said he didn't mind the glee club knowing, not the whole school. Still, it was a big improvement.

Sam shrugged, not looking like he really knew how to answer that. After a moment, he said, "I guess I've just gotten used to the idea. It was kind of weird at first. The part about other people knowing, I mean. Not the part about-" Sam lowered his voice "-dating a guy."

"It'd be fine if that part was weird at first, too," Blaine said. Honestly, he'd been a little surprised by how easily Sam had accepted the idea of dating a guy – his reaction to the homophobic bullies notwithstanding.

"But it wasn't really," Sam said. "I mean, it's you."

Blaine didn't know how he did it, but somehow, Sam had a way of making Blaine fall in love with him pretty much every time he opened his mouth, while making Blaine feel just as loved at the same time. It was incredible, really, like everything else about him.

"So, does that mean you've given more thought to how you're going to come out?" Blaine asked, making sure to keep his tone casual.

Sam stiffened ever-so-slightly. For the first time, he started to look uncomfortable. "I don't really know. Can we talk about that some other time?"

Blaine quickly nodded. He grabbed his tray and walked over to the cashier to pay. Sam's eyes suddenly widened. "Crap, I forgot that I was supposed to get something!"

Blaine frowned. "Why do you need to get something?"

"That was my excuse for coming over here with you," Sam said, glancing over to where the glee club was sitting. None of them were paying the slightest attention to the two of them. But Sam apparently didn't realize that, because he said, "If I go back to the table without buying something, then they'll know that I had another reason for coming over here to talk to you and they'll get suspicious."

Blaine rolled his eyes. "They'll think that you came over here because you like to hang out with me, not because the two of us are plotting against Sue. And anyway, why would that have to be a secret from the glee club? It's not like they'd go against us or anything." In fact, most of the club knew a bit of their plan – back when Sue had challenged Blaine to a sing-off, he'd had to told the club not to vote for him. Even with Blaine throwing the contest, he'd known that the glee club would have taken his side if he'd honestly not wanted to join the Cheerios.

"It's not a secret mission if everyone knows about it," Sam insisted, then lowered his voice and hissed, "Plus, she's got spies everywhere, remember? We can't trust anyone but ourselves!"

Blaine just snorted and shook his head, but he grabbed a bag of chips from a nearby basket. Cool Ranch Doritos – Sam's favorite. "There. I'll get this for you and you'll have your excuse." Because sometimes, it was a lot easier to just go along with Sam than to try to change his mind. Not to mention that Blaine was a lot more amused by Sam's spy fantasy than he was letting on.

Sam frowned and glanced down at his stomach, quick enough that most people probably wouldn't have noticed it. "Nah, I think I'll grab something else."

Blaine raised his eyebrows. "Knowing you, you've probably been eating salad all day. One bag of chips isn't going to kill you." He continued over to the register and pulled out his wallet to pay for everything.

"Yeah, but I haven't had time to go to the gym in a week," Sam argued as he followed Blaine over. "This body takes work, you know." He tried to grab the chips off Blaine's tray to put them back.

"Still not going to kill you," Blaine said as he batted Sam's hand away. "Besides, you've already put so much effort into your body that you'd have to eat, like, fifty McDonald's hamburgers for it to make a difference." The cashier handed him his change, which Blaine stuck in his pocket, then picked up his tray and headed to the tables. The glee club's table was already crowded with way too many people – Blaine wasn't entirely sure how they got everyone to fit around it – so he sat at the table next to him instead. Secretly, he was a little happy about that. He knew that the point of everyone coming was so that they could do team bonding, but he liked just spending time alone with Sam. And after spending a long day rehearsing, he was ready for a little bit of down time, just the two of them.

"You say that now, but it's a slippery slope," Sam said. Blaine just rolled his eyes and slid the bag over to Sam, who shook his head. "I told you, I don't want them."

Blaine couldn't help but grin a bit at that. "Oh, really?" he asked. He reached over and ripped the bag open, then shook a few of them out onto the table. "Try to resist them now," he said, knowing that Sam wouldn't be able to. Cool Ranch Doritos were like Sam's addiction – he wouldn't buy them on his own, but if they were right in front of him, he'd eat them every single time.

Sam just glared at him for a minute, then gave in and grabbed one. "I hate you," he mumbled.

Blaine just laughed. Sam was a whole lot better now than he'd been in January, but he still had problems with eating too little and exercising too much – and with feeling bad about himself when he didn't do enough of either. He was much more likely to skip workouts, and he wasn't quite as strict about what he ate, but Blaine still considered it a victory when he got Sam to give in and splurge on junk food. Even if one small bag of chips wasn't what anyone but Sam would consider splurging.

"So, you and Ryder really didn't find anything out?" Blaine asked, turning a bit more serious.

"You guys talking about me?" Blaine turned just as Ryder dropped into the seat next to him, still holding Kitty's tray. He placed in front of her as she sat down next to him, then turned back to Blaine, an easygoing grin on his face.

"Blaine was just asking about what happened when we went to follow Sue," Sam said, then seemed to realize that he shouldn't have said that in front of Kitty, because he gave her a horrified look. Not that there was a problem with Kitty knowing – except for the fact that, despite what Blaine had said earlier, it would be easier to hide their plans from Sue if few people knew about it. But Blaine guessed that the real problem was that telling her compromised whatever spy mission Sam had made up in his head.

"That's what you two were after?" Kitty asked, then shrugged. "Something to do with why we still got first place even with my lame fall?" She didn't even wait for them to answer, just assumed that she was right and kept talking. "You find anything?"

"Nothing," Ryder said, his face falling slightly.

"You caught her going to the judge's area, right?" Blaine asked. When Sam nodded, he said, "That's got to count for something. Maybe that alone isn't enough to prove anything, but we could find more evidence. I mean, we already know that something suspicious happened, since she wasn't supposed to be there in the first place."

"Are you guys talking about me?" Brittany asked, suddenly appearing seemingly out of nowhere and taking the seat next to Kitty. "Because I didn't mean to cause any trouble. I swear I thought that was the girls' bathroom."

Blaine raised his eyebrows at Sam, who looked just as confused as Blaine. He decided not to ask. There were times when you just didn't want to know what Brittany meant, and Blaine had a feeling that this was one of those times. "No, we're talking about something else."

"Oh," Brittany said, looking slightly relieved. Then she smiled. "Who are you talking about, then? Is it Joe's new pretty girlfriend? Or Kitty? Or Marley? Or-"

Blaine shook his head before she could start naming every single member of the New Directions. "It's none of those," he said, then hesitated. He wasn't sure if he should add anything more. Not because he didn't want to involve Brittany – he didn't have a problem with it. But he wasn't sure if she'd be able to keep this a secret from Sue. Knowing her, all Sue would have to do is ask and Brittany would spill everything.

Ryder didn't seem to have the same reservations. "We think that Sue might have cheated, and that's why you guys got first place." Brittany gasped, her eyes widening so much that it was almost comical.

"So, what, you guys are going to play detective and solve this little mystery?" Kitty asked, in a tone that suggested that she thought they were idiots for even thinking about it.

"Well, yeah!" Sam said, way more passionately than Blaine had been expecting. "I mean, this is just like the situation with the Warblers, right? They cheated and won, so we almost didn't get to move on. But we figured out what was going on, found the proof, and now we get to go to Regionals!" He slung one arm over Blaine's shoulders and grinned, as if to remind everyone who was responsible for figuring out that the Warblers had cheated. "You all know how important it is to us that the Warblers were found out. And it's going to be just as important to whatever team should be the winner, so we've got to expose Sue to everyone!"

Ryder nodded enthusiastically. "He's got a point," he said, turning to Kitty.

Kitty just sighed and rolled her eyes. "Why do I get the feeling I'm going to get drawn into some terrible spy fantasy that Sam has?" Blaine couldn't help but snort at that, since he'd been thinking the same thing.

"That's not what this is," Sam said. "Plus, if I was going to fantasize, it'd be about secret agents, not spies, because they're much cooler."

Ryder frowned. "Aren't they the same thing?"

"Well, the name is cooler," Sam said.

Brittany squealed and clapped her hands. "I want to help!" she exclaimed. "We can all be secret agents together! What's our first mission?"

Everyone turned to Blaine for that one. Which was reasonable, he supposed, since he had been the one to originally come up with the idea to take down Sue all those weeks ago. Or maybe Ryder, Kitty, and Brittany were just following Sam's lead. Either way, all of them looked like they expected Blaine to come up with something. Unfortunately, he had absolutely no idea what to do.

"I doubt we're going to find any evidence today," he said after a moment, since he felt the need to say something. He spoke slowly, thinking it over as he went. "Sue's here eating," he said, noticing that she sat with a group of coaches on the other side of the cafeteria. And from the looks of it, she and a few of the other coaches were on the verge of attacking each other. Blaine doubted they actually would, though – at least, he hoped that they wouldn't – so he turned his attention back to the problem. "Sue isn't doing anything suspicious, so we're not going to get any evidence right now. We'll have to wait and find something later."

"Yeah, but if we wait until after the competition, then you're probably going to win today. That won't be fair," Sam said with a frown.

Blaine had to admit that Sam was right, but he couldn't think of any way around that. "Do you have any idea about how we could find evidence?" he asked, honestly hoping that he would. Because as much as Blaine liked taking the lead most of the time, he wasn't quite sure what to do now.

To his surprise, it was Ryder who spoke up. "We could try searching her office," he suggested. "I mean, she's probably blackmailing them with something. Or bribing them. Either way, she's got to be keeping record of it, right? And those records will probably be in her office."

Blaine thought about that for a second. "Sam and I tried that a few weeks ago," he said. Or, they'd tried to try that. Sue had reappeared after only a few minutes, which meant that they'd had to abort the mission. It had very nearly led to them getting caught, which would have been simultaneously terrible and awkward, especially since Blaine wouldn't have had the slightest idea how to explain the fact that they were in their superhero costumes at the time. (That part had been Sam's idea.) "We were only in there for a little while before she returned, though. There could be something in there that we missed."

"Let me guess, the two of you both sneaked in there together?" Kitty asked. When Blaine nodded, she scoffed. "What you need to do is get someone to distract her, and another person on lookout to warn the people searching her office of when she's going to return." She rolled her eyes. "No wonder you didn't find anything."

That sounded very smart, actually. "So, does that mean you're going to help us?"

"Well, someone needs to think of these things so that Sue doesn't destroy you, and it's clearly not going to be any of you losers," she said.

Sam grinned, seeming to not even notice the insult. "Then we have a plan!" he exclaimed. "When should we-?"

He didn't finish his question, because right then, Tina came over and dropped into the seat next to him. Jake and Marley joined them a second later. "Hey, we haven't seen you guys all day," Tina said, addressing everyone but looking at Blaine, her voice teasing. "You're not allowed to sit over here and not talk to us."

"Sorry," Blaine said with a smile. "Just talking about Cheerio stuff. Right, everyone?"

"You could call it that," Kitty said dryly.

The rest of the evening was spent talking with all of the New Directions. After the first few minutes everyone got up and pushed the two tables together (as much as two circular tables could be pushed together), so that they could all talk to each other. And even though it interrupted their plotting and made it harder to talk to Sam, Blaine was having a great time. It had been a while since the New Directions had done anything as a group – at least, it had been a while since they'd done something that didn't involve singing – and Blaine definitely enjoyed it. There was a two-hour break in between the last routine and the start of the final award ceremony, but it felt like only minutes had passed when Sue was suddenly grabbing them by the hair (literally, in Brittany and Kitty's case, though she just made a disgusted face at Blaine's hair and refused to touch it) and dragging them over to join the squad for awards.

The ceremony lasted for far too long, especially since Blaine essentially knew what the outcome would be. Not to mention that after such a long day, he and the rest of the squad were all ready to just go home. But Sue growled at anyone who let their eyes droop, so Blaine made sure to stay alert.

Blaine was zoning out a little by the time they started to announce the winner. He hadn't even realized what they were announcing until he heard his team's name called and everyone around him started jumping and screaming. Their enthusiasm was so infectious that Blaine couldn't help but join in and start celebrating with them, but it didn't really feel right. Blaine loved to win, maybe a little more than he should - Sam teased him about that all the time. But still, winning seemed pointless when it wasn't because they deserved it. Honestly, Blaine was relieved when it was time to climb onto the bus and ride back to McKinley.

They were about halfway to the school when Blaine's phone rang, barely audible over the excited chattering around him. He pulled it out and answered without bothering to check the caller ID. "Hello?"

"Congratulations," Kurt said, an obvious smile in his voice. "I just saw on Sue's twitter that you guys won the cheerleading competition. Or, specifically, I just saw that you guys apparently 'crushed our enemies and made them bleed both failure and tears'. That's a direct quote, by the way."

"Sue has a twitter?" was the first thing Blaine asked. Because seriously, he had a hard time imagining that.

"Surprisingly, yes," Kurt said. "And she's just as insane and psychotic in 140 characters as she is in real life. But anyway, congratulations on the win."

"Thanks," Blaine said, feeling slightly weird about accepting his congratulations when they hadn't exactly earned their win. But that wasn't the kind of thing he wanted to say out loud when he was on a crowded bus where Sue might overhear him, so he kept quiet. Then he noticed something odd. "It's almost midnight," he said, checking his watch to make sure. "What are you still doing up?"

"Blaine, I'm a college student living in New York – what makes you think that I'd go to sleep at a reasonable time?" Kurt laughed, but Blaine could hear something off in his voice. Not to mention that Kurt had always been incredibly firm about getting enough beauty sleep. Sometimes he'd make an exception, but only if he had a good reason. Blaine had a hard time believing that that had changed in less than a year. Kurt seemed to take his silence for disbelief – which it was – because after a second, he sighed. "I haven't been sleeping that well," he admitted. "And I'm kind of going stir crazy being the only awake one in the apartment, so when I saw that the competition had just ended, I figured I'd call since you had to still be up."

"What's wrong?" Blaine asked, frowning and leaning his head against the bus window.

"Nothing," Kurt said quickly. "Just forget I mentioned it, okay? It's fine."

"Kurt," Blaine said slowly. "We agreed that we're still going to be friends, remember? So whatever is bothering you, you can tell me."

For a minute, he thought that Kurt was still going to protest. Then Kurt sighed again, and when he spoke, his voice lacked his usual confidence. "It's Dad," he said quietly. "What if his cancer isn't gone?"

Blaine felt a flash of guilt – between everything else that was going on, he'd almost forgotten about Burt's cancer, which made him feel terrible. Last year, Burt had practically been a substitute dad to him when his own dad spent all him time working. But after the break up, Blaine had felt awkward seeing him, and had avoided going down to the garage as much as he could. But now he remembered that Burt had a doctor appointment coming up to tell him whether or not he was in remission. "It is," Blaine said, with more confidence than he felt. "He's doing great, Kurt. He's back at the garage, he looks healthy. It's going to be okay."

"But what if it isn't?" Kurt asked in a small voice that Blaine hadn't heard from him in two years. It was the same voice he'd used when Karofsky had been bullying him, and Kurt hadn't been able to do anything about it.

"It will be," Blaine said firmly. "What day is the appointment?"

"Thursday afternoon," Kurt said.

"Then you have less than five days left to worry about it," Blaine said. "When you get the good news on Thursday, you'll look back and realize that you had no reason to be scared, because the cancer is going to be in remission and everything is going to work out fine." He bit his lip, then said, "This is something that you should talk to Rachel about. Or Santana." As much as Blaine wanted to help, there was only so much he could do over the phone from several states away. Kurt would be better off with someone who could actually be there for him, and not just virtually.

"I know," Kurt said. "I do talk to them. But Rachel is getting ready for her Funny Girl callback – this could completely make her career, Blaine. And Santana... You remember the girlfriend she mentioned on Fondue for Two? Well, apparently her girlfriend wasn't too happy about the things Santana said, and you do not want to know about the drama that's been going down."

Between everything else that was going on, Santana's new girlfriend was another thing that Blaine had forgotten about. He was a little curious, but knew that now was definitely not the right time to ask, so he just said, "Even if they have a lot going on, they care about you, Kurt. I'm sure that they'd both be more than willing to help you." He hesitated, then said, "And I know I've only met Adam twice, so I don't know him too well, but he seems like he really cares about you, too."

"Yeah, Adam has been great," Kurt said, and despite everything, Blaine could hear a hint of a smile in his voice. "I don't know how I'd get through this without him. But at the same time, we haven't known each other that long. I don't want this to end up being too much, too soon." Blaine didn't have anything to say to that. Like he'd said, he hardly knew Adam, so he couldn't exactly judge whether they were moving at the right pace or not. But after a moment, Kurt added, "He is skipping his Wednesday and Thursday classes to come to Lima with Santana, Quinn, and I."

"See? That sounds like something he'd do if he really wanted to be there for you, Kurt," Blaine said. Then he frowned. "Santana and Quinn are both coming?"

"Yeah, they've been planning it for ages. Something about getting your asses in line for Regionals," Kurt said dryly. "Trust me, this is going to be an interesting trip."

"Why is that?" Blaine asked.

"Oh, you'll see," Kurt said, then yawned. "I think I'm going to see if I can get some sleep."

"Sounds good," Blaine agreed quickly, since Kurt sounded like he could use it. "Thanks for calling to congratulate us. And you can call back if you can't sleep. You know that, right?"

"Yeah," Kurt said, though from the sound of his voice, Blaine doubted that he would. "I'll probably just go to Rachel's room and sleep in there. She stole all of the good pillows from me, anyway, so she owes me."

Blaine chuckled when he heard a hint of the usual bitchiness creep into Kurt's tone. "What day are you coming to Ohio?"

"We'll be there to help with glee on Wednesday," Kurt answered.

"Then I'll see you then," Blaine said. "Bye, Kurt."

"Goodnight, Blaine."

Blaine hung up his phone and stuck it into his pocket, then turned to stare out the window into the almost-pitch-black night. Sam was supposed to work for Burt tomorrow – apparently Burt insisted that he needed to finish up a car that he hadn't had time to get to during the week, and Sam had offered to go in and help, mostly so he could keep an eye on Burt and make sure he didn't overexert himself. Blaine had already offered to drive Sam home after work, since they planned on spending the evening together, anyway. The thought of seeing Burt again was still a little weird – and even weirder now that he and Kurt weren't planning on ever getting back together. But maybe it was time that Blaine stopped in, just to see how he was doing.

Blaine would never admit it out loud to Kurt, but he was a lot more worried about Burt's appointment than he'd said. And if something happened, Blaine would hate himself if he kept avoiding the man who had been such a father figure to him last year.

But nothing would happen, Blaine reminded himself. Burt was going to be fine.

Still, Blaine made up his mind to stop in and talk to him tomorrow. Just in case.


	26. Chapter 26

**Many thanks to my beta, Tuuzmorado.**

* * *

Sam got off work around seven the next evening. Blaine pulled into the parking lot of the garage a few minutes early and walked inside, trying to act like this wasn't at least a little weird. Although, it kind of was. Blaine wasn't entirely sure what he'd say to Burt after not seeing him for so long.

The moment Burt looked up and spotted him, though, he grinned. "Blaine," he called, motioning for Blaine to walk over to where Burt was working on a car. "How are you doing?"

Blaine smiled. "I'm good," he said. "Just here to pick up Sam. I said I'd give him a ride back to his apartment." Although, Burt probably knew that. Sam had mentioned before that he didn't actually know enough to be that much help on the cars – he usually could help by handing people the right tools and cleaning up messes, but that was about it. Sam was pretty convinced that Burt mostly hired him for the company, so Sam probably would have already mentioned to Burt that Blaine was coming. "Where is Sam, by the way?" he asked, glancing around the garage.

"He's in the back room, organizing some files," Burt said. "You can keep a secret, right?" When Blaine nodded, Burt chuckled and said, "Sam's a lot of help with the basic stuff, and with keeping this place looking nice. But when it comes to anything more difficult, he can be more trouble than he's worth. Good company, though, but I sent him to the back so I could concentrate."

Blaine chuckled as well, idly wondering how frustrated Sam was getting with the files. Putting things in alphabetical order wouldn't be the easiest thing for him, and Blaine had heard Kurt complain before about how unorganized the filing system was. Blaine figured that if Sam had been working on that for a while, then Blaine had better go see him before he went crazy.

"So, what are you working on?" he asked, more to make conversation than because he was honestly curious.

"Trying to fix the engine on this thing," Burt said, tapping the side of the car. "I could tell you what the actual problem is, but I doubt you'd understand me."

"Probably not," Blaine admitted. His dad's attempts to straighten him out by rebuilding a car had left Blaine with a pretty good knowledge of which tools were which and what a couple of the car parts were called, but not much else. Dad had been the one who figured out what they needed to do; Blaine had just done whatever his dad told him (even though he had no idea why he was doing it), then tried not to think about it after that.

Burt smiled. "Carole gives me grief about working on Sundays, but the woman who owns this car is a really nice lady. Single mom, so I'm trying to get it done for her as soon as I can."

"That's really nice of you," Blaine said. "How have you been doing?"

Burt shrugged and leaned against the side of the car. "Pretty good, all things considering. What about you? It's been weird not seeing you around so much."

"I've been really busy with all the clubs," Blaine said, even though he was pretty sure they both knew the real reason he had stayed away. He quickly changed the subject. "But you're okay? Kurt said that you have an important doctor appointment on Thursday."

A worried look crossed Burt's face for a second before disappearing. "It's a big one," he agreed. "I think Kurt's a lot more freaked out about it than I am. You two have been talking?"

"Just a few times," Blaine said quickly, not wanting Burt to get the wrong idea. Though, at this point, Blaine wasn't sure if Burt would be relieved or disappointed to know that he and Kurt weren't going to get back together. At Christmas, he'd agreed to take Blaine to New York because he'd honestly wanted to help Blaine make amends with Kurt, but a lot of time had passed since then. Blaine wouldn't blame Burt if he'd changed his mind and didn't want Blaine to have anything to do with Kurt anymore.

But no, Burt's smile widened at that. "Glad to hear that," he said, and sounded like he meant it. "Did he tell you that he's coming back on Wednesday."

"Yeah," Blaine said, choosing his words carefully. "I'm looking forward to meeting Adam. I've only spoken to him a couple of times, but he seems like a nice guy."

"He does. I'm not too sure about the age difference, but he seems like a good guy and I trust Kurt's judgment. I might still have to explain to him that I've got a gun and I'm willing to use it, but if Kurt likes him, that's good enough for me."

"You have a gun?" Blaine asked, wondering if that was true or if Burt was just saying it because it was the standard threat than dads made. When Burt nodded, looking completely serious, Blaine added, "I guess I should take it as a compliment that you never felt the need to tell me that when Kurt and I were still dating."

"You should," Burt said. He crossed his arms and leaned further back against the car, and said, "I'm going to be frank with you about something, okay, Blaine?" Blaine frowned and tentatively nodded, not entirely sure where this was going, or that he'd want to hear it.

"Honestly, the idea of Kurt dating someone scared me quite a bit," Burt began, which just confused Blaine further. "Not because I didn't want him to meet the right guy eventually. It was more that I was worried that he'd end up with the wrong one. But I didn't worry so much about that when he started dating you. Not to say that you didn't screw up some times, because you did. I mean, waking up hung over in my son's bed wasn't the best first impression that you could have made." Blaine winced at the memory. That had definitely not been one of his better moments. "But I wouldn't have taken you to New York if I didn't think that you were a good guy underneath it all."

"I-" Blaine began, then stopped because he honestly had no idea what to say. Which might have been a good thing, because Burt was still talking.

"Now, Kurt says that you two aren't going to get back together, and I know he really likes this Adam guy," Burt said. "But whatever happens with that is between you and him. It's not my place to get involved. But that doesn't change the fact that you're a good kid, Blaine, whether you're dating my son or not. Don't think that I'm going to think less of you just because you and Kurt are broken up."

Blaine swallowed hard against the lump that suddenly appeared in his throat. "I- Thank you," he said. "And I'm really sorry about... about what happened between Kurt and I."

Burt chuckled. "I know. You told me about twenty times during the trip to New York. If Kurt can forgive you for that, then I can, too."

Blaine smiled slightly. This was better than he'd been hoping. It wasn't like he'd expected Burt to suddenly start hating him during the time between Christmas and now, but still, it was nice to be sure.

"And one more thing," Burt said. "I know you and your dad don't have the closest relationship. So I just want you to know that you could come to me if you ever need help with something. Now, it's just a suggestion. I'm not saying you have to, and hell, you'd probably feel weird talking to the dad of your ex. But I just want to make sure that you know what you're options are. Like I said, you're a good kid, Blaine."

"That's very nice of you to offer," Blaine said, with complete sincerity, even though he already knew that he wasn't going to take Burt up on his offer. Burt was right about Blaine not being close with his dad – Dad had never been high on the list of people that Blaine would go to if he had a problem. But at the same time, talking to Burt about his problems had been awkward enough when he and Kurt were dating (though it had happened a few times last year, when Blaine really needed advice about something). Now, Blaine had the feeling that it'd just be too uncomfortable. He did appreciate the offer, though, more than he could ever say.

"It's no problem," Burt said, smiling in a way that said that he meant it.

"Hey Burt, my shift ended a couple minutes ago, so I just clocked out," Sam called as he walked out of the back office. A grin spread over his face when he saw them. "Blaine! I didn't hear you get here!"

Blaine chuckled at Sam's enthusiasm. He must have really gotten tired of sorting files if he was that excited to leave. "We should probably get going," he said, turning to Burt. "But it was nice talking to you."

"Nice talking to you, too," Burt said. "Go ahead and stop by some day when Sam's working so we can catch up more, if you want."

"You can help me with the files," Sam said, confirming Blaine's thoughts. "Those things are absolutely evil. No offense," he added to Burt, who just looked amused.

"Yeah, maybe I can stop by to help out sometime after Regionals," Blaine said. There wouldn't be time before then, but he'd have more free time once the competition was over (though a lot of that free time would be spent attending the clubs that he'd had to neglect during the past few weeks).

"Sounds good," Burt said. He waved and Sam and Blaine started to leave, then turned and got back to work on the car.

Sam was practically bouncing with excitement as they walked out to Blaine's car. Blaine just watched, amused by how much Sam resembled a hyperactive child at that moment. "Okay, how much sugar have you had today?"

"None," Sam said, looking confused. "Or, not much, at least. Why'd you ask?"

"Because clearly something has got you completely overexcited," Blaine said as he climbed into the driver's seat and started up the car.

"It's nothing," Sam said immediately. "I'm just excited to see you! I'm always excited to see you. You're my best friend, remember? Why wouldn't I be excited?"

"Uh huh." If Blaine hadn't already been able to tell that something was going on, then this would have clued him in instantly. Still, Blaine decided not to say anything as he drove Sam back to him apartment. Whatever was making Sam so excited, Blaine was sure he'd find out about it soon enough.

"Thanks for the ride," Sam said when Blaine had parked in front of his apartment building. He undid his seat belt and jumped out of the car almost the second that it stopped, then quickly turned back to Blaine. "You're coming inside, right?"

Blaine raised his eyebrows. "That was the plan, considering that you invited me over for dinner."

"Right, right, good!" Sam said with a grin. "Come on, let's go."

Sam obviously couldn't stand still the entire elevator ride up to his floor. He kept shifting his feet and practically vibrating with excitement. Blaine snorted. "You're really bad at keeping things a surprise, aren't you?" he teased.

Sam spun to face him, eyes wide and a horrified look on his face. "You figured it out?"

"I figured out that you have something planned, even if I don't know what," Blaine said. "You have something waiting for me back at your apartment, right?"

Sam relaxed slightly. "Okay, you've got that part. But you don't know what I'm planning, so it's still going to be a surprise!" The elevator doors opened, and Sam was out into the hallway instantly, grabbing Blaine's hand and yanking him along. He quickly unlocked his apartment door, but instead of going inside, he turned to face Blaine. "You remember Joe's serenade, right?"

"Of course," Blaine said. It had only been a few days ago, after all. But he couldn't figure out what it had to do with what Sam was planning, though.

Sam smiled. "And you remember that you and the girls were talking at lunch afterward, about how romantic it was, and how Coleen was really lucky."

"Yes," Blaine said slowly, since Sam seemed to be waiting for that. He was starting to get an idea where this was going. At least, he hoped that this was going where he thought that it was.

"It got me thinking," Sam said. "At first, I was thinking about doing an actual serenade, but I figured that might be hard, since we're going to be rehearsing for Regionals all week. There won't be a lot of time. But I figured we could do something else, instead."

Blaine grinned. "Like what?"

Instead of answering, Sam slowly pushed open the door and motioned for Blaine to step inside.

At first, Blaine had no idea what the surprise was supposed to be. Sam's apartment look the same as it always did, except that there was a blanket spread over the usually-bare floor and the lights were already on. That seemed like the weirdest part, actually. Normally, Sam would never waste electricity by leaving lights on when he wasn't in the room, let alone when he was going to be gone for a few hours.

"Look up," Sam said softly, then flipped off the lights.

The ceiling of Sam's apartment was covered in glow-in-the-dark stars. With the lights off, they were the only thing that Blaine could see in the apartment, except for the small bit of sunlight that still shown through the thin curtains over his windows.

"Sam," Blaine whispered, half worried that the setting would be ruined if he spoke any louder. "This is incredible."

Even if the dark room, Blaine could still tell that Sam was grinning from the sound of his voice. "Mercedes and Brittany used to make me watch a lot of romantic movies with them," he said as he walked over to the kitchen, going slow to try to avoid bumping into anything. He raised his voice just enough that Blaine would still be able to hear him, though his voice was still quieter than usual. "When I was trying to think of things to do, I remembered that a ton of the movies involved people lying under the stars. But it's too cold outside to actually do that, so I figured this would have to be good enough."

"This is more than good enough," Blaine said, tilting his head back to stare up at the was the stars were spread across the ceiling. It didn't look like there was a definite pattern to them, but it didn't look completely random, either. Sam had arranged them artistically, much better than Blaine would have managed if he'd tried to do the same thing.

Sam came back out of the kitchen. By now, Blaine's eyes had adjusted just enough that he could tell that Sam was carrying a lunch box. "I don't have a basket, so I'm using this instead," Sam said, walking over to the blanket. He sat down and patted the space next to him. "Come on, dude." Blaine smiled and took a seat beside him. Sam opened the lunch box. Now that he was closer, Blaine could see that it was decorated with the power rangers. If it had belonged to anyone else, Blaine would have assumed that it was left over from when he was a little kid. Knowing Sam, though, he probably still used it all the time. "I just packed sandwiches. I know that's not that great for dinner, but I didn't have much time to make them, and I couldn't think of anything else that would be easy to eat with our hands."

"Sam, this is perfect," Blaine said, keeping his voice low and trying to sound as sincere as possible. It would be just like Sam to put together something this wonderful and then assume that it wasn't any good. This was possibly the most romantic date Blaine had been on – if this counted as a date when they hadn't technically started dating yet – and he wanted to make sure that Sam knew it. Blaine glanced up. "How long will the stars last?"

Sam shrugged. "Probably an hour or so. I left the lights on while I was gone so that they could charge, but still, Stacey has the same kind in her room and they never last as long as the box says that they will."

"Sounds like we have plenty of time," Blaine said.

The two of them sat a normal distance apart while they ate, joking around the entire time like they always did. If it wasn't for the romantic atmosphere, than it would almost seem like they were just friends, goofing around like any of the other countless times that Blaine had come over for dinner. But as soon as they were finished eating, Sam put the lunchbox aside and lied down. Blaine lied down beside him, and after a second Sam scooted closer and took Blaine's hand.

The two of them laid there in silence until Blaine finally decided to break it. "Sam?"

"Yeah?"

"This is wonderful." Blaine scooted even closer so that he could lean his head against Sam's arm.

Sam sighed, sounding relieved. As if, even now, he'd actually thought that there was a chance that Blaine wouldn't like it. "Thanks, dude."

Blaine smiled, even though he didn't know if Sam could see it, and awkward shuffled even closer to Sam. "Do you think this counts as our first date?" he asked, since he couldn't figure that out for himself, and he really wanted to know, even though part of him was hesitant about asking. He knew that Sam didn't want to kiss until they were officially dating, and he didn't know if Sam had similar feelings about going on dates or not.

"I don't know," Sam said. His voice was thoughtful, like he was really thinking hard about it. "We decided not to date until Regionals, right? So I'm not sure if we can call this a date if we're not actually dating."

"That's what I was thinking," Blaine said.

Sam tilted his head so that his cheek rested against Blaine's hair, which Blaine knew would turn his hair into a complete mess and lead to the gel smearing across Sam's cheek, but he was too happy to care. "It feels like a date though," Sam almost-whispered. They were both still keeping their voices softer than normal, to fit the atmosphere, but this was quiet even by their standards. Blaine had to strain his ears to hear it, even with their heads right beside each other.

"Do you want it to be?" Blaine asked.

Sam waited a minute before he answered. Blaine knew that Sam was thinking it over, trying to come to a decision, so Blaine kept quiet and waited, even though part of him wished that Sam had said "Yes" immediately.

"I don't want to date until Regionals," Sam finally said. "I know, that's probably stupid. I'm not dating Brittany any more, and- Well, we originally decided to wait to give you time to get over Kurt, and I guess I can't speak for you about how that's going, but-"

"I'm good," Blaine said, tilting his head just enough that he could see the outline of Sam's face in the darkness while still keeping his head on Sam's shoulder. "Kurt and I broke up in November, remember? I know I spent way too long chasing after him, and I'll admit, it hurt when he started dating Adam." Blaine closed his eyes, thinking back to how he'd felt when he'd first seen Kurt's relationship status two weeks ago. It had hurt, like he'd said, but the pain had been like a slushy to the face – meaning, the shock was the worse part, and then you just had to deal with the clean up. At that moment, Blaine hadn't wanted Kurt to date anyone else. But looking back, it wasn't because he'd hoped to start dating Kurt again. It was because he hadn't seen it coming, and he hadn't quite been ready to let go.

He didn't feel like that anymore.

"Kurt will always be one of my best friends," Blaine said, "but I'm happy that he's with Adam. Even if Kurt decided that he wanted to get back together, I would still choose to be with you."

"Even if we're not exactly dating?" Sam asked.

Blaine shook his head. "I said that I would choose to be with you," Blaine said. "That doesn't have to be dating. It just means... being with you." He thought that sounded like a stupid way to say it, but he couldn't quite think of any other way to phrase it.

"But you still want to date," Sam said, not even making it a question.

"Of course," Blaine said.

"So neither of us are dating other people now, and we're both happy about it," Sam said. "So I guess if we're both over our exes, then there's no reason that we have to wait until Regionals." Blaine could hear the uncertainty in Sam's voice, and decided to wait, guessing that Sam had something more to say. And sure enough, Sam continued, "But I kind of still want to."

"Why?" Blaine asked, making sure to keep his voice non-judgmental. He didn't want Sam to think that he was upset, because he wasn't, really. He'd expected this from the way Sam had been talking, and he'd accept it, but he still wanted to know what Sam was thinking.

"Because it's the rules, I guess," Sam said. "We decided to wait, and I want to stick to that."

"And?" Blaine asked, knowing that that couldn't be the real reason, or even the main reason. Maybe Sam really did feel like that, but Blaine doubted that Sam was a big enough stickler for the rules that he'd wait another week to date Blaine just so that they could honor some rule that they'd arbitrarily decided on.

"And because I don't want to date you in secret," Sam said. "You're awesome, so you deserve more than that." Blaine opened his mouth, but Sam continued before he could speak. "And I know that you're going to say that I can take all the time I need, and that you'll be fine with it, but that's not it." Blaine closed his mouth, since that was exactly what he'd planned on saying. "You can say that you'll be fine if we don't tell anyone, any maybe you mean that, but that's not me. I mean, I don't want to date you in secret because I really care about you, so I don't want to make you have to do that. But I also don't want to secretly date you because I wouldn't want to secretly date anyone. It's just not who I am. So if we started dating you now, then I'd have to go to McKinley and announce it to everyone tomorrow, because otherwise I wouldn't feel right."

"And you don't want to do that," Blaine said. He squeezed Sam's hand. "And that's okay. You have all the time you need." He hesitated, then added, "You know, when we first decided to wait until Regionals, we didn't plan on it being a deadline where we had to start dating by this day. I think it became that, but originally, it was just a day to reevaluate so we could decide if we wanted to start dating. So if we get to Regionals, and you're not ready to start dating-" He thought for a second about how he wanted to finish that sentence, and decided on, "-that would be okay."

"No, I want to start dating you at Regionals," Sam said, his voice sounding almost stubborn. "I'm going to be out by then."

"Don't let anything force you into this, Sam," Blaine said. "Not even yourself."

"I know, but I'm not." Sam bit his lip, then said, "I've been thinking a lot over the past few days."

"About what?" Blaine asked, even though he was pretty sure he knew.

"You know how you asked me yesterday if I'd thought about coming out?" Sam asked. "About that. And I think I actually have some ideas."

"Care to share?" Blaine asked, making sure to keep his tone light, even though he was actually anxious to hear what Sam had to say.

Sam nodded. "Well, I'm going to come out to the Glee club first," he said. "I mean, they're the ones that I don't mind knowing. It's still probably going to be hard to actually say the words, but it's not like I think any of them are going to treat me differently because of it."

"Sounds like a good plan," Blaine agreed. "What about the rest of the school?"

"Well, for them, I was thinking we could just... not tell them," Sam said. Blaine frowned, confused, but Sam hurried to explain. "I don't mean that we keep it a secret from them. It's just, I don't have any friends outside of the glee club, so why should I have to come out to them? But if I'm out to the glee club, then it won't be a secret that the two of us are dating. It's going to get around the school eventually. And even if nobody in the glee club talks about it, it's still going to be obvious from the way we act, right?"

"Right," Blaine said slowly, thinking that over. "While I agree that you shouldn't have to come out to anyone that you don't want to, it's probably not going to be that simple. At the very least, you're going to have to figure out what you'll say the first time someone calls you gay."

The silence told Blaine that Sam hadn't thought about that. Then Sam said, "I really, really want to say that I'm not going to deny it. Or, well, I will deny being gay. But I want to think that I'd tell them I'm actually bi, and that we're definitely dating. But I don't know if I can promise that." Sam scowled and turned away from Blaine. "I hate that I can't promise that. It's just words. It shouldn't be this hard!"

Blaine squeezed Sam's hand again, wondering if he should point out that it wasn't just words. Sure, the words themselves were no big deal – it was the results that was hard to deal with. Sam had already gotten slushied for bullied because people thought that he was dating Blaine, and Blaine could only imagine that it'd get worse when Sam confirmed it. But that didn't seem like it'd be very comforting, so Blaine didn't say anything about that.

Instead, Blaine said, "You don't owe them an explanation, you know. Even if people insult you for it or ask point-blank, you don't have to answer them or say anything."

"Isn't that just another form of hiding, though?" Sam asked.

Blaine didn't really have an answer for that.

They laid there in silence for a while, long enough that the light from the stars was starting to dim by the time Blaine spoke. "Like I said, you can have as long as you need," Blaine said. "Even if you're determined that we'll start dating at Regionals, we still have almost a week. You can start with the glee club and see what happens after that. It doesn't need to be planned out now." He nudged Sam's arm with his shoulder and added, "Come on, look at me! I want to enjoy the rest of our date while I have the chance."

To his relief, Sam turned his face back towards him. "So this is a date?" he asked, his voice surprisingly playful considering what they'd just been talking about. "I thought we'd never made a decision about that."

"Well, I just decided. This is out first date," Blaine said, mostly because he was hoping to make Sam smile. And it worked. The corners of Sam's mouth barely turned upward, but Blaine still counted it as a success.

"Even though we're not dating?" Sam asked.

"Well, most people aren't dating when they go on their first date, anyway," Blaine said. "Think about it. Two people like each other, so they go out. And if everything goes well, _that's_ when they ask each other if they want to date. So we're doing things normally. It's just that I'm a nice person, so I'm giving you more time than usual to make up your mind."

Sam's smile widened. "I think my mind is pretty well made up."

"Well, I'm still going to make you wait to tell me," Blaine said, his voice teasing. "You can give me your answer at Regionals."

"Sounds good," Sam agreed. "I'll give you a hint, though." He moved so that his mouth was right next to Blaine's ear, and said in a loud whisper, "I'm going to say yes."


	27. Chapter 27

**I'm not sure if I'll have time to post this tomorrow, so I'm putting it up a day early, just in case. I'll respond to last week's reviews in a few days, as soon as I get the chance.**

**As always, thanks to my lovely beta, Tuuzmorado.**

* * *

The whole glee club met the next morning to learn the lyrics to "Outcast", and it was just as awesome as Sam had thought that it would be. Everyone was super excited about the song, and made sure to let Marley know it. She just grinned and glanced down, looking like she was caught between enjoying all the compliments and being embarrassed by all the attention.

It also made Sam twice as excited to learn his and Blaine's duet during lunch. He didn't know anything besides the title, but he was betting it was going to be awesome. By the time he'd reached his last class before lunch, he was so busy staring at the clock and waiting for the bell to ring that he couldn't pay attention. Math was hard enough on most days, but today, it felt downright impossible.

"Mr. Evans," the teacher called, approaching his desk. Sam instinctively winced, expecting her to lecture him for not paying attention, or to make him do some problem on the board as punishment. She tended to do that a lot, which Sam always hated, because even when he knew how to do the problem, doing it with everyone watching always made him mess up. Instead, she pointed to the door. "Principal Figgins wants to see you."

"Ooooooh," one of Sam's classmates said, probably thinking that Sam was in trouble. Which he couldn't be, since he hadn't done anything wrong. At least, he didn't think that he had.

"Why?" Sam asked.

"He didn't say." The teacher turned back and started writing something on the board, so Sam slowly stood and swung his backpack over his shoulder, then left the classroom.

The walk to the principal's office always seemed to take forever when you were in trouble. Sam knew that from experience: he'd been taken down there after his fight with Karofsky two years ago, and again when he'd tried to walk around shirtless earlier this year. But for some reason, it seemed even worse when he had no idea why he was even going down there. He just hoped that he wasn't going to be punished for anything, because after the shirtless incident he'd promised his parents that he wouldn't get in any more trouble. He'd technically broken that promise when he'd fought Lipoff, even if he didn't really regret it, and he didn't want to break it a second time in two weeks.

Sam knocked on Figgin's door and waited a moment. When he didn't get a response, he shrugged and slowly pushed open the door. "You wanted to see me?"

The first thing he noticed was that Beiste was standing over by the wall. She gave him a smile that was probably meant to look reassuring, but the fact that she was here just made him even more nervous. Was this about the fight with Lipoff, after all? He'd thought that he'd already been punished for that, but maybe someone had told Figgins about it and he was about to get in trouble all over again.

Then he noticed that the chairs in front of Figgin's desk weren't empty. Bobby sat in one, slumped down with his arms crossed and a giant scowl on his face.

"Ah, yes, Samuel. Have a seat." Figgins gestured to the three chairs in front of his desk.

Sam sat in the chair that wasn't next to Bobby, still not sure why he'd been called here. "What's going on?" he asked, turning to Beiste, because he kind of figured that she'd be more likely to give him a good answer than Figgins would be.

Before anyone got a chance to answer, the door opened again, and Brittany walked in. She glanced around the room and frowned. "I don't like this room," she said, looking as Sam as she sat down next to him. "Last time we came to see Figgins it made you unhappy."

Sam also frowned, remembering the time they'd received their SAT scores from Figgins. He'd almost forgotten about that. He also hadn't realized that she'd known how upset he'd been that week – she'd acted so excited about her grades that he'd assumed that she hadn't even noticed him.

"Well, let's see if we can keep that from happening this time, okay?" Beiste said in a comforting tone that made Brittany perk up and nod happily.

"It's been brought to my attention that there was an incident on Friday," Figgins said. "Samuel, can you explain what happened?"

Sam got it now. "You mean about... what happened with me and Bobby." He didn't know why he was trying to be vague about it. He'd already told Beiste, and she'd obviously told Figgins, so it wasn't like he had anything to hide. That also didn't mean he felt comfortable saying it. Two years ago, he'd wondered why Kurt hadn't told them he was having trouble before the bullying with Karofsky had gotten so out-of-control, but it made more sense now. It really, really sucked to have to say that Bobby had been bullying him, like he was admitting that he couldn't handle it. He hadn't seen it that way when it was someone else who was being bullied, but now that it was him, he got why people didn't want to admit what was going on.

"Nothing happened," Bobby said, sitting up slightly in his chair.

"Samuel?" Figgins asked, glancing at Sam as if to ask if this was true.

"Maybe Brittany ought to tell you what happened, since she saw it," Beiste cut in. Sam guessed that she figured that Sam wouldn't say it on his own, so Brittany had to. After the way he'd tried to avoid telling her on Friday, he couldn't blame her. Or maybe she was trying to be nice by making it easier on him.

"No, I can," Sam said, which kind of surprised even him. He took a deep breath and turned to glare at Bobby. "I was walking to class when he and one of his friends pushed me into the locker and threw slushies at me." He'd wanted his voice to be all angry and defiant, which didn't really work. But at least his voice was even, and he'd said it out loud. That counted for something.

"I never did any of that," Bobby said. "Sam's making stuff up."

"Am not," Sam said, then regretted it when he realized how much that made him sound like a toddler.

"Are too," Bobby said, which made Sam feel slightly better, because at least he wasn't the only one who was arguing like a toddler. "The glee club has hated the sports teams from the moment it was formed. Now Sam's trying to get me in trouble for something I never did."

Sam couldn't help but snort at that, because the thought of the Glee club being the ones who mistreated the sports teams was just too ridiculous. But then he realized that there was a chance that Figgins was going to fall for it, and it didn't seem so funny.

Figgins turned to Sam, frowning and looking like he wasn't entirely sure what was going on, which wasn't exactly a good look for a guy who was going to decide if Bobby got punished or not. "Samuel? Do you have any proof that this happened?"

Sam thought back to the camera that Brittany had tried to use to videotape it, and how it had had a dead battery. Then he slowly shook his head. He'd also thrown away the shirt he'd been wearing when he'd been slushied, after realizing that there was no way that he'd be able to get the stains out, so he didn't even have that to serve as evidence.

"But he does have a witness," Beiste said, nodding at Brittany.

"Brittany?" Figgins asked. "Did you see what happened between Bobby and Samuel on Friday?"

Brittany thought for a moment, then suddenly started nodding like crazy. "Bobby and another guy said that they'd throw slushies at Sam, then they did because they're mean. Then they laughed and walked away and it made Sam sad." She frowned, looking so upset that Sam reached over to squeeze her shoulder comfortingly.

"You can't believe her," Bobby said, turning to glare at the two of them. Brittany shrank away from him, which made Sam mad, because anyone who could be mean to Brittany was completely heartless. "They're in glee club together. She used to be his girlfriend. Obviously she's lying about this to get me in trouble because they're both in on it."

"Is this true?" Figgins asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Oh come on, you think Brittany could lie to anyone?" Beiste asked. Sam nodded. Lying was one of the things that seemed to be completely impossible for Brittany. Part of that was because she was too sweet to ever try to trick anyone, but more than that, she also just didn't seem to know how. Tell her a secret, and she'd barely make it ten minutes before she randomly blurted it out to someone, even if there was no reason to bring it up. "You've always said that the reason you can't so anything about the bullying is because you don't have any witnesses. Well, now you do."

Figgins frowned. "I'm sorry, but I can't take the word of one student over the other. That has always been the problem, and that doesn't change. If Brittany and Samuel have been dating, then I have no way of knowing if she's really an objective witness, or if she's lying to help him."

"What a load of horse crap," Beiste snapped, which was probably the closest Sam had ever heard her come to swearing. "Our jobs here are to protect the kids, and we can't do that if we're not even allowed to enforce the rules."

"But we can't punish someone unless we have proof," Figgins said. "There are rules against suspending children without proper evidence."

Sam squirmed down in his seat, wishing that he was anywhere else but here. He appreciated that Beiste was trying to help, he really did, but Sam could have told her that it wouldn't work, and that it would just make Bobby angry. It was the same thing that had hurt Kurt two years ago, and it sucked, but Sam couldn't picture it changing any time soon. He'd rather just get out of here, especially since the smirk Bobby was sending him was really pissing him off.

Figgins shrugged. "I'm sorry, but until you come up with more evidence or a non-biased witness, there's nothing I can do."

"It's okay," Sam said quietly, talking to Beiste. Because as much as he thought that this was stupid, and he wanted Bobby to get in trouble, he knew that arguing about it would just make it worse. Better to just head back to class instead of fighting pointlessly.

"Bobby isn't going to get in trouble?" Brittany asked, sounding like she didn't understand. "But he did something wrong. That doesn't make sense."

Sam just shrugged, because he agreed, but he didn't have any idea how to explain that to Brittany, who saw the entire world in sunshine and roses.

Suddenly the office door slammed open. Sam spun around in his seat in time to see Sue stroll in carrying a giant stack of papers, looking completely casual, as if there was nothing weird about this. "Well, hello, Figgins," she said, in a false-cheerful voice. "I hope I'm not interrupting. I'm just here to drop off my petition to ban slushies." She walked over to Figgin's desk and dropped the papers onto it. "Signed by over ten thousand people, and all of them are students here at McKinley," she added.

"But this school barely had five hundred students," Figgins said. "There's no possible way that you could get that many signatures from students."

"I hardly think that that matters," Sue said, leaning against Figgins desk. She glanced over her shoulder at Bobby and added, "I also dropped in to tell that guy there that he has detention with me every day this week except Thursday. That's the day that Robin and I have a Mommy and Me kickboxing class. She's too young to actually be part of the class, so we just sit on the sidelines and laugh together whenever one of the girls accidentally hits the instructor in a sensitive area and sends him falling to his knees with tears streaming down his face. I figured it's never to early to give Robin some positive female role models."

"What?" Bobby demanded, shooting to his feet and glaring at Sue, who didn't even bother to look at him.

"Sue, you can't just go around giving detentions for no reason," Figgins said, crossing his arms and giving her a warning look, which she also ignored.

"I have a reason," she said. "I'm giving him detention because you refuse to punish him yourself. If you're going to keep turning your blind eye to everything going on in this school, then I'm going to have to take care of it for you."

Figgins sighed, sounding annoyed. "Sue, as I already said, we can't punish a student unless we have proof that they actually did something wrong, and in this case, we don't. All we have is Samuel's word against Bobby's, and Brittany doesn't count as a suitable witness."

"We don't need a suitable witness," Sue said. "I saw the whole thing myself."

"What?" Sam frowned, trying to figure out how that could have been true. He was pretty sure that there hadn't been any place where she could have hidden without him seeing her, and even if it had been possible, why the heck would she have bothered?

"Yes," Sue said. "I was there in time to see this boy here – who's name I have not bothered to learn, because I honestly don't care – slushy Jumbo Lips."

"Then why didn't any of the children see you?" Figgins asked.

"I was hiding in the vents."

Figgins sighed, sounding annoyed. "Sue, this school doesn't have a vent system large enough that you could fit inside it, and even if it did, the vents wouldn't be able to support your weight."

"Again, I hardly see why that's relevant," Sue said. "The point is, this jock is guilty, and he has to report to me for his punishment."

"Sue, you can't just tell bold-faced lies and pass them off as the truth," Figgins said. "There are rules against that. And you especially can't make up lies just to get students into trouble. That kind of behavior can get you fired."

Sue just shook her head. "You can't fire me. It's written into the contract that I tricked you into signing over a decade ago. No matter what I do, you have to let me keep my job."

That explained a lot about how she got away with so much, actually. And Sam could see how it'd be pretty easy to trick Figgins into signing something without knowing what he was reading.

"I have as much right to give out detentions as any other member of the faculty," Sue said, slamming her hands down on Figgin's desk and leaning toward him. "I may not be allowed to suspend students. If I were, then nobody but my Cheerio team would ever be allowed into the building. But I am able to give out detentions as I see fit, and you will not interfere." She turned and pointed at Bobby. "You. Detention. Gym. Today. Be there, and bring your little accomplice with you, or else I'm going to get the whole soccer team together and do a lineup." Then she turned and strode out of the room, leaving everyone else staring after her, trying to figure out what just happened. At least, that was definitely what Sam was doing.

"I don't actually have to go to detention, do I?" Bobby demanded. "I told you, I didn't do it!"

"Yes, you did," Brittany said. When he turned to glare at her, she stuck her tongue out at him.

"I'll talk to Sue, try to get her to see reason," Figgins said.

Bobby narrowed his eyes, turning back to Figgins. "And if she doesn't, then I have to go to the detention just because she assigned it?" Figgins frowned, looking like he was trying to figure out what the answer was, though Sam figured that that was the kind of thing he should already know. Bobby seemed to take the lack of response as a yes, because he scowled. "That's bullshit," he snapped, then stormed out of the room.

"Language, Bobby," Figgins called after him, before turning to Sam and Brittany. "You two might as well go back to class."

Sam stood, slowly, and left the room, still not entirely sure what had happened. This whole meeting had seemed kind of crazy, even by McKinley's standards.

"You okay?" Beiste asked as soon as they were out of Figgin's office.

Sam turned to her, a little surprised. "Yeah," he said. "Bobby just got detention, right? That's more that I was expecting."

Beiste sighed. "It's not as much as he should have gotten, that's for sure. He's like Lipoff – we both know that they've been bullying people all year, but Figgins isn't going to do a thing about it."

Sam shrugged. "It's okay," he said, mostly because he didn't know what else to say. She looked more upset about the lack of discipline than he was. Although, he probably should be as upset as she was, since he was the one who was going to have to deal with the fact that the jocks could keep throwing stuff in his face without getting in much trouble for it. And he was mad - when he really started thinking about it, it completely pissed him off. But another part of him figured that there was nothing that he could do to change it, so he was better off trying not to get upset.

At least, he was trying not to get upset. It wasn't really working, though he tried not to let that show.

"No, it's not okay," Beiste said. "We're supposed to be protecting our students. Trust me, Sam, you haven't seen the end of this."

Sam wasn't entirely sure how to respond to that. His first thought was that this wasn't going to work, but he didn't want to say that out loud when Beiste sounded so sure of herself. "Thanks," he finally said, since she was mostly doing this because of him.

Beiste just nodded and glanced at the clock. "You probably should get back to class. There's still about ten minutes left."

"Okay," he agreed, nodding at her before turning and walking away.

Brittany grabbed his hand. "I'm sorry I didn't do a good job helping you," she said quietly.

"You did a great job," he said quickly, because the expression on her face was making him really depressed, and he really wanted to find a way to cheer her up. Plus, it was true. "Thanks for standing up for me. It's not your fault that Figgins didn't listen."

"You sure?" she asked. "I didn't do a bad job."

He reached over and wrapped one arm around her waist, pulling her over for a one-armed hug. "You did a great job," he said.

"Then I'm sorry that Figgins didn't listen," she said, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. "See you later, Sam."

"Bye, Brittany," he said, waving as she ran off toward her classroom, then he turned and started walking toward his own.

In order to get to his classroom, he had to pass Sue's office. She was standing in the doorway when he walked over. As soon as he was close enough, she stepped forward and pointed at him. Sam stopped and tilted his head, trying to figure out what she was doing. "Three things, Lips," she said. "One, I am only intervening because Brittany is a member of my Cheerio team, and she was involved in this incident. I protect my team, but don't expect me to come running every time something happens. Two, I'm not doing this to help you. I'm doing this because I sometimes get bored of terrorizing the glee club and want to change it up by terrorizing the sports teams. And three, I forget what I was going to say because I am too distracted by the fact that your lips look like a bouncy castle. Seriously, do you use those things as pillows?"

"Uh, okay," Sam said slowly. If he had been confused before, that was nothing compared to how he felt now.

"That was all I wanted to say," Sue said, then immediately stepped back into her office and slammed the door.

Sam had told Beiste that he was going to go back to class, but instead, he headed to the choir room and dropped into one of the chairs, leaning back and covering his eyes with his arm. He needed time to think about this, and try to figure some things out.

Bobby was going to get detention. That was the big one. It was more of a punishment than he'd expected, but he still didn't know how he felt about that. For one, when Lipoff had gotten detention, it had just made Bobby come after Sam with a slushy instead. Sam couldn't help but feel that the bullies were going to just move along a line, and when one got punished, another would take his place. This wouldn't be enough to end it.

But more than that, he also knew for sure now that Figgins wasn't going to be any help. He'd suspected that from the beginning, but now he knew for sure. He wondered how far the bullies would have to go in order to actually get in trouble with Figgins. He guessed that it was pretty damn far.

The weird thing was Sue's reaction. This was the second time that she'd intervened for them. First she did whatever it was that she'd done to make Lipoff back off, and now she was giving Bobby detention. It was weird, and not really what he'd expected from her. Sam wasn't entirely sure what to think of that, either.

He also didn't know what this would mean for him, and how much crap he'd get from the soccer team as a result. Maybe all the detentions would make them back off before the whole team got in trouble for it. Sam wasn't really dumb enough to believe that, though.

"Sam?" Someone shook his shoulder, and Sam lifted his head to see Blaine standing next to his chair. Sam frowned - he hadn't even heard the bell, or noticed that Blaine had walked into the room. He must have been thinking harder than he'd thought that he was. "You okay?" Blaine asked. He frowned, looking really worried all of a sudden. "What are you doing?"

"I'm fine," Sam said quickly, because he wanted to make that worried look go away immediately. "Just waiting for you and Mr. Schue to get here so we can learn our song." Part of his expected Blaine to realize that something was up and demand a real answer, but Blaine must have bought it, because he just grinned, and the worried look changed to one of excitement.

Sam felt relieved, and also a little guilty. He probably should tell Blaine about getting called to Figgin's office, but that would mean that he'd also have to mention Bobby cornering him on Friday. Sam had meant to bring it up on Sunday, once the competition was over and he didn't have to worry about distracting Blaine. But their date had been so romantic, and Sam hadn't wanted to ruin the moment.

He'd tell Blaine about it soon. He really would. But he wouldn't be able to do it now, because just then Mr. Schue walked into the room, followed by Brad, the pianist. "Hey Blaine, Sam," Mr. Schue greeted, arranging some sheet music on the piano. "Why don't you two come over here so that we can get started?"

The uncomfortable stuff would have to come up eventually. But he and Blaine had worked hard for this duet, and for now, Sam just really wanted to focus on the good stuff without having to think about anything else.

* * *

"That is the best song ever!" Sam exclaimed once lunch period was over. The two of them were walking down the hall together. "And I'm not just saying that because we get to sing it together. I seriously love that song. Like, seriously! It's awesome!"

Blaine laughed, which made Sam grin in response. Hanging out with Blaine had been exactly what he needed, especially since they'd gotten to sing, which they both completely loved to do. Sam couldn't stay worked up about the bullying thing when he had Blaine around to cheer him up, even when Blaine didn't realize that he was doing it. "You've told us that about five times already," he pointed out. Sam just shrugged. Okay, so he was a little enthusiastic. That was a good thing, wasn't it? "You should tell Marley that," Blaine added.

Sam nodded. "Oh, I definitely will. We are so going to win at Regionals, dude."

"I hope so," Blaine said.

They reached Sam's locker now. "Dude, we will," Sam said as he started entering his combination. "You've gotta think positively."

Out of the corner of his eye, Sam noticed that there were a whole bunch of students in red standing a few feet from his locker. He turned his head to check, and sure enough, it was Bobby and the rest of the soccer team. Sam quickly turned back to his locker and started looking around for the right book.

Blaine grinned. "You sounded great on your part," he said. "I think Mr. Schue was impressed."

"Thanks," Sam said. His part of the song had originally been meant for a girl, so they hadn't been sure how it would sound with Sam's voice, but they'd played around with the music a little and it had ended up sounding better than Sam had expected. "I can't wait until we get to start working on it tomorrow."

"Me either," Blaine said. He glanced down at his watch. "I'll see you in Spanish," he said, giving Sam another quick smile before turning to walk toward his class. Sam smiled back as he watched Blaine go, then turned his attention back to his locker. He'd found his book easily enough, but now he needed to figure out where his science worksheet could be. He swore that he'd seen it not that long ago.

The soccer jocks were still leaning against the wall a few feet away. They weren't doing anything, but they weren't walking away, either. And Sam knew it couldn't be a coincidence, because they'd never hung out around here before. Sam just bent down to keep searching for his worksheet (he had one of the bottom lockers, which sucked), deciding to just ignore them as long as they didn't try to start anything.

He finally found the worksheet on the inside of his math book, which was definitely not where it was supposed to be. He had no clue how it had gotten stuck there, but he was just glad that he'd found it while there was still enough time to get to class. He straightened and shut his locker door.

Bobby and his friends were still there, and Sam had only glanced at them a few times (completely on accident), but he knew that they were all glaring at him. It was unnerving, even though there were still enough students around that he doubted they would try something.

"What?" he finally snapped, turning to them. Which was probably stupid, and he probably should have stuck to his ignore-them-until-they-go-away plan. But he really wanted to know what was up with them.

"Nothing," Bobby said. He took a step toward Sam, who instinctively tensed up, expecting him to throw a punch. But he just glared at Sam for another few seconds before he and the rest of the guys kept walking straight past him, leaving Sam with no idea what they were planning. Which, to be honest, freaked him out more than the times they'd thrown slushies at him. At least then he'd known what was coming.

Bobby made it a few feet down the hallway before glancing over his shoulder at Sam. "Fag," he spat, then turned back around and walked away.


	28. Chapter 28

**Thanks to my beta, Tuuzmorado, who still takes the time to be amazing and helpful even when she's super busy, and who I appreciate more than I can say. :)**

* * *

Blaine tapped his fingers against the steering wheel of his car, trying to decide if he should go inside to look for Sam or just wait out here. This wasn't the first time that he'd picked Sam up from work at the Pizza King, and usually he waited for Sam in the car. But today Sam was almost ten minutes late, and Blaine was starting to wonder if he should go inside to see what was happening. Especially since Sam was about to come home to have dinner with Blaine's family, including his dad. Even Kurt hadn't gotten to eat dinner with Dad unless they both happened to show up on the same day, completely unintentionally. Blaine had told his dad that they'd be home a few minutes after six, and the last thing Blaine wanted was for his dad to get upset at them for being late. Blaine had a feeling that this night was going to go bad enough without starting off on the wrong foot.

Blaine had just decided to go in to find Sam when the door opened. "Sorry," Sam said, slipping into the passenger seat. "Lisa was late getting to work, and we were busy enough that I didn't want to leave Gina to handle it alone, so I had to stay a few extra minutes."

Blaine nodded. "Lisa is the one you always complain about, right?" he asked. Sam talked about his coworkers sometimes, but from the sound of it, there were dozens of people who kept getting hired then fired or having their shifts changed at random. Blaine couldn't keep any of the names straight, even when Sam mentioned them multiple times.

"Nah, she's normally pretty cool. The bad one is-" Sam shook his head. "Never mind, doesn't matter. Let's just head to your house."

"Okay," Blaine said, suddenly feeling nervous, even though he told himself that he shouldn't. After all, it wasn't like Sam hadn't come over before. Just because his dad was going to be here tonight shouldn't make things weird. His stomach didn't believe that, though. He quickly buckled his seat belt, then glanced over at Sam. "You changed out of your uniform already."

"Oh, yeah," Sam said, glancing down. He was dressed nicer than Blaine usually saw him, in black pants and a white button-down shirt. "I wanted to make a good first impression. Especially since the real first impression I made wasn't that good." He frowned and pulled at the bottom of his shirt. "Do you think this is good? Because the first time he met me, we had just shared a bed. He totally thinks that we had sex. How am I supposed to get him to like me now?"

"You'll do fine." Blaine reached over and squeezed Sam's shoulder before putting the car into drive. Somehow, he hadn't realized that Sam was also nervous. For some reason, that made him feel a little better. At least, he could focus on calming Sam down and not have to focus on his own nerves.

"You're sure?" Sam asked, flipping down the visor and using the mirror on the underside to check his reflection. He frowned. "Should I put on a tie or something? Or do something with my hair?"

"Sam, you're fine," Blaine said again. "You look nice, but at the same time, you don't look you're dressing up just because you're trying to impress him. Anything more will be overkill."

Sam nodded. Out of the corner of his eye, Blaine could still see Sam run a hand through his hair as if trying to smooth it down. "What do I say to him? How do I win him over after telling him that we slept in the same bed. I mean, if I'd realized that he was going to think that, there's no way I would have mentioned that we shared a room."

Blaine smiled as Sam's fussing. "If it makes you feel better, the first time I met Burt was when he found me sleeping in Kurt's bed. As in, he thought I was Kurt until I sat up. At least you were already awake and not completely hungover at the time."

Sam snorted. "Seriously?" he asked.

"See? You're story isn't so bad," Blaine said. Though, there was a big difference between Burt and Blaine's dad. Burt had always made a point of being a part of his son's life, and trying to accept whatever Kurt cared about. Blaine's dad? Not so much. Blaine figured that this wasn't the time to mention that, though.

They arrived at Blaine's house shortly. During the three-minute drive, Blaine was pretty sure that he reassured Sam over a dozen times that yes, this wouldn't end in complete disaster. Blaine wasn't entirely positive that that was true, but saying made them both feel better.

"Where is this coming from?" Blaine asked as the two of them got out of his car and headed toward the house. They reached the door, but Blaine stopped and turned to Sam instead of going inside. "Last Wednesday, you were fine with the idea. You seemed more optimistic that I was."

Sam shrugged. "Yeah, that was before I had to actually meet them," Sam said, then quickly added, "I mean, it's not just meeting your parents that's got me freaked out. It's just, meeting parents in general. You should have seen me when I had to meet Brittany's parents for the first time."

Blaine frowned. "They always seem like really nice people," Blaine said. He didn't really know them, but he'd talked to them briefly after some of the competitions, when they'd come backstage to congratulate the club, and he'd seen them cheering for the cheerleaders during some of the football games. It was really obvious that they were enthusiastic about whatever Brittany did, and obviously doted on her. All in all, they weren't people that Blaine would be scared to meet.

"Yeah, but I still had to tell them that I was dating Brittany," Sam said. "It didn't matter how nice they were - that part is terrifying, dude." He frowned. "Did you tell your parents that we're dating? Or, almost dating?"

Blaine shook his head. "I haven't really had a chance," he said, which wasn't strictly true, but pretty close. He'd been so busy with cheerleading that, after Tuesday, he hadn't seen his dad at all until Sunday morning. Which wasn't too unusual, actually. Most of Sunday morning had been spent Skypeing with Tina, and though Blaine could have said something to his dad, it had seemed weird. He and his dad just didn't talk – Blaine wasn't sure how to just start a conversation like that out of nowhere.

Sam groaned. "I was kind of hoping I'd get to skip that part with your parents," he said.

"Sorry," Blaine said. Or, he started to say it, but Sam cut him off before he got more than halfway through.

"No, I didn't mean to make it sound like a bad thing," Sam said. "It's just, you know, telling the parents that you're dating is always the hard part, but it's cool, we can tell them together."

"Right," Blaine said. He hesitated, then reached over and grabbed Sam's hand. He half expected Sam to pull away, but instead, Sam intertwined their fingers and gave Blaine a quick, albeit nervous, grin. Blaine smiled back, then pulled out his keys and unlocked the door. "We're here," he called as he and Sam walked inside.

"I'm in the kitchen," Mom called back. Blaine and Sam quickly kicked off their shoes and lined them up on the rug by the door, then walked over to the kitchen. Mom was stirring something on the stove when they walked in, but she quickly set down the spoon and turned to face them. She glanced down at their joined hands, then smiled and stepped forward to hug them both. "It's great to see you again, Sam."

"Thanks," Sam said, an obvious smile in his voice.

Blaine hugged his mom back tightly with his free arm, trying to silently thank her for not making this awkward. When he stepped back, she smiled at him in a way that made him think that she'd gotten his message. "Where's Dad?" he asked.

"In his office, like always," Mom said, shaking her head and turning to check something in the oven. Blaine wasn't entirely sure what she was cooking, but whatever it was, it smelled great. "There's still about half an hour before dinner, so why don't you go say hello to your father and then you can go work on your glee project. Blaine said something about choreography?"

"Oh, yeah," Blaine said. In all his nervousness over Sam meeting his dad, Blaine had almost forgotten that he'd agreed to show Sam the choreography that he'd missed in glee today. "Thanks, Mom. We'll go do that."

She smiled, giving his shoulder a quick squeeze as Blaine passed her. He bent down slightly so that she could kiss him on the forehead. "Have fun. I'll call you when we're ready to eat."

"Are you sure you don't need help with making dinner, Mrs. Anderson?" Sam asked.

"No, I can handle it myself," she said, the wagged her finger at Sam. "And I've told you, you can call me Marie. 'Mrs. Anderson' is too formal for someone who's practically moved in with my son."

"Thanks," Sam said. Blaine grinned as he led Sam down the hall to Dad's office.

They both hesitated outside the door, glancing at each other like they were waiting for the other one to make the first move. Which was ridiculous, and Blaine knew it, but that didn't stop him from doing it.

"Last week you said something about him asking Finn and Rachel for test scores and stuff when they came to visit you?" Sam finally asked in a low voice. "How serious were you about that? Because if he asks me for that stuff-"

"Don't worry about it," Blaine said quickly, because the last thing he wanted was for Sam to start thinking that he wasn't good enough, especially over something like test scores. And yeah, that had actually happened when Finn and Rachel visited him before his surgery, but Blaine wasn't going to let his dad ask Sam those kinds of questions, or do anything else that would make Sam think that he didn't approve. In Blaine's mind, Dad had kind of lost the right to have a say in who Blaine dated when he'd refused to acknowledge that Kurt existed.

Sam took a deep breath and nodded. "Okay, I'm ready," he said, and Blaine knocked on the door.

"Come in," Dad called. Blaine pushed the door open and stepped inside, Sam following right behind.

"Hey, Dad. You, uh, know Sam," Blaine said, somewhat awkwardly.

Dad nodded and stood, holding out his hand. Sam had to drop Blaine's hand in order to shake it. "It's nice to finally be introduced to you," Dad said, stepping back and nodding at Blaine in way of greeting. Blaine gave his dad a tight smile and quickly took Sam's hand again. "So," Dad said. Several seconds passed without him saying anything more, to the point where Blaine started to shift uncomfortably. Then Dad asked, "How did you and Blaine meet?"

"Uh, glee club," Sam said.

"We got to know each other a little last year, but we didn't become good friends until we decided to run for student council together. Sam's my vice president," Blaine put in. Because he'd decided that he didn't care if his dad approved or not, and he meant that. But still, if he could make his dad like Sam... Well, it would make things easier for everyone.

"Really?" Dad asked, looking surprised. Blaine couldn't help but wonder how much of that was because he had forgotten that Blaine was the student council president. "Well, that's very impressive," he said, leaning back slightly against his desk. "Are you in any other clubs besides glee?"

"Not really," Sam said. He looked casual, but Blaine could hear a hesitation in his voice, like he was thinking hard about what to say. "I did synchronized swimming last year, and football the year before, but that's it. Well, except for Blaine's superhero club."

"Superhero club?" Dad turned to Blaine now, clearly not understanding what Sam meant.

"It's just a thing I started with some friends," Blaine mumbled, deciding not to go into details. Dad approved of the glee club and the different sports that Blaine had done over the years, but he guessed that Dad would think that running around in a superhero costume would be a waste of time. And Dad was pretty serious about not wasting time.

Dad nodded and looked back to Sam. "Do you have any plans for after graduation? You are in Blaine's grade, correct?"

"Yeah, we're the same age," Sam said. "I applied to some art schools. I'm hoping to get into Pratt and move to New York."

"Art school," Dad repeated, in a tone that made Blaine inwardly cringe. It was the same tone that Dad had used when Blaine had explained his decision to apply for NYADA and become a performer. "And what are your plans for after you graduate from college? What kinds of careers can you get with your degree, and what are the odds that you'll actually find a job with it?"

"Uh, I don't know," Sam said, shifting uncomfortably. "I don't have a major picked out yet. I've still got to do some research."

Dad frowned. "Do you at least have a general idea about which program you plan to go into? Any thoughts about what could be a possible career?"

"Uh…" Sam bit his lip.

"Does it matter?" Blaine asked, giving his dad a look. He knew that Sam was still trying to figure things out. It made sense – he hadn't planned on going to college until recently, and anyway, half the students in his class had no idea what they were doing, either.

"Actually…" Sam hesitated, then said, "I was kind of thinking something with set design, maybe. Or something to do with theatre."

"Really?" Blaine turned to Sam, surprised. This was the first he'd heard about Sam having any idea about what he'd actually do if he got into art school.

"Yeah," Sam said, hunching his shoulders self-consciously. "I mean, glee has been so important to me, so I want to do something with that. I'm not a performer like you or Rachel, but I'm good at art, and I like making things, so…"

Blaine grinned. "I think that sounds great!" he said. The corner of Sam's mouth turned up in a small smile.

"What's the employment rate for set designers?" Dad asked, making both Blaine and Sam turn back toward him. "Is this something that you could conceivably get a job in, and even if you can, will the salary allow you to support yourself?"

The smile slipped from Sam's face. "I haven't really looked into it yet," he admitted. "It's, well, it's just an idea I had."

"Do we have to talk about this now?" Blaine snapped.

"I'm just trying to get an idea what you two are planning," Dad said with a small shrug. "So you'll be in New York with Blaine? Do you plan to live together?"

Blaine glanced at Sam, who was staring back at him like he was hoping that Blaine would answer. "Probably," Blaine said. "Unless we end up living in the dorms at our schools. But if we do live off campus, then it will definitely be together. Because the apartments cost so much." And because Blaine would love to share an apartment with Sam, to get to see him every day and hang out all the time. He didn't mention that to Dad, though. And he had the feeling that, even if they did end up living separately, they'd still end up practically moving into each other's dorms. That was also not the kind of thing he wanted to mention to his dad.

Dad nodded. "It sounds like you two are pretty serious, then. How long have you been together?"

"Uh-" Blaine wasn't sure how to answer that one.

"Not long," Sam broke in. "I mean, we've been best friends since the beginning of the year, but we haven't been together for long."

Blaine waited for a reaction from his dad. He wasn't sure if he expected a positive or a negative one, but he at least expected something. But Dad just kept nodding, his face completely unreadable. Sam squeezed Blaine's hand, looking more and more nervous as the seconds ticked by.

"We're going to go rehearse for Glee," Blaine said, before Dad could say anything more, or ask Sam any more questions. He quickly pulled Sam out of the room before Dad could respond.

"I feel like I was at a job interview," Sam muttered as they walked to the living room. "Only a lot worse, because if I flunked an interview then I could try to find another job, but it would really suck if he told me that I couldn't date you."

"He's not going to do that," Blaine reassured Sam. At least, Blaine didn't think that he would. Dad hadn't cared when Blaine had started dating Kurt, but then, Dad hadn't wanted to have Kurt over for dinner, either. So Blaine wasn't entirely sure what was going to happen. "Anyway, you passed with flying colors."

Sam snorted. "Hardly," he said. "He probably wanted me to announce that I was going to law school or something." Blaine opened his mouth to respond, but before he could, Sam added, "But it's nice that he cares, though. That he's trying to make sure you're seeing a nice guy."

"That's one way to look at it," Blaine said with a shrug. Then he bit his lip. "You didn't have to tell Dad that we're dating, you know."

Sam looked uncertain. "Was that okay? I mean, it's not technically true. Hell, I'm the one who kept telling you that I didn't want us to date until I was out, so it's my fault that we're not actually together. But it just... He already thinks that we're dating, so it seemed simpler to just say that we were instead of explaining that we're not, then telling him on Saturday that we are."

"Yeah, it was fine," Blaine said quickly. "You can tell anyone you want that we're dating." And, even though he completely agreed that it was a good idea to wait until Sam felt ready, Blaine still felt a thrill when he heard the word.

Sam grinned. "I don't think I'm going to tell anyone else until after we make it official," he said. "I mean, it'd be kind of awkward if I told someone that we were dating, and that person mentioned it to you before I got the chance to."

Blaine snorted. "Okay, no telling people that we're dating until Saturday," he agreed, bending down and pushing the coffee table to the side so that there'd be more room for them to dance. "Ready to get started?"

"Always, dude," Sam said with a grin. "How much do I have to learn?"

"Not a lot," Blaine said. "Marley, Tina, Unique, and Ryder are the only ones onstage for You Have More Friends Than You Know, so you don't have to worry about that one. And we're not working on our duet until tomorrow, so you just need to learn the dance for Outcast." Sam nodded, and Blaine said, "We don't come onstage until right before the chorus. You know that part that Brittany and Jake sing?" When Sam looked confused, Blaine sang, "_Feeling downcast like an outcast. Underdogs. It's time to bite back._ That's when we come onstage."

Sam nodded again. "So, do we just run on, or are we supposed to do something?"

Blaine shrugged. "Mr. Schue said something about running on in style, whatever that means. I guess just try to look enthusiastic and jump around until you reach your spot or something." One thing Blaine had realized is that Mr. Schue didn't necessarily give the clearest directions when he was choreographing a song. Although, that could be a good thing. Since they didn't have any specific instructions, that meant that they could personalize their entrances, which could be pretty cool. "Anyway, you're on stage right. I don't know where you're actually supposed to stand, since we're scattered around the stage, but Mr. Schue said that you should just stay by Tina for most of it. He wants the two of us to be on opposite ends of the stage when our duet begins, and since Tina is the person standing farthest away from me when the song ends, if you stay near her then we'll be in the right spots."

"Stay by Tina. Got it," Sam said. "So, what about the actual dancing?"

"The choreography begins when we start singing the chorus," Blaine said. "It goes like this. _We are, we are, we are stronger from every scar, brighter than any star."_ He sang, demonstrating the choreography as he did. He started to sing the next line, but something in the corner of his eye made him stop. He turned, and saw Dad standing in the doorway, watching them with an odd expression on his face. "Do you need anything?"

"No, no," Dad said. He cleared his throat. "What are you two working on."

"Sam had to miss the rehearsal today, so I'm teaching him the choreography," Blaine said slowly. "Why?"

Dad shrugged. "I was just curious about what you two had to rehearse," he said. "Is this the duet that you two are doing?"

"You know about that?" Blaine asked.

"You're mom mentioned it," he said.

"No, we're not working on that until tomorrow," Sam said, looking like he wasn't sure if he should speak up. "It's going to be awesome, though. Blaine sounds amazing on it."

The corners of Dad's mouth turned up in a hint of a smile, albeit a somewhat-awkward one. "Well, I look forward to seeing it on Saturday."

"Wait, you're coming?" Blaine hadn't expected that. His dad had showed up at a few of his shows over the time, but he wasn't a big fan of show choir, and he usually ended up working through the weekends, even when he swore that he wouldn't. "I thought you'd be too busy."

"Of course I'm coming," Dad said. A weird look crossed his face for a second, but it was gone before Blaine could decipher it. "I wouldn't miss it," he said quietly, the cleared his throat and turned away. "I'll let you two get back to work. Have fun." Then he walked back to his office.

"That was slightly weird," Blaine said, then shook his head. "Okay, how about I show you the moves one more time, then you can try it out."

* * *

Sam picked up of the dance a lot faster than he'd thought that he would. A lot of the choreography was kind of hard to learn without having the rest of the group around, but Blaine was a good teacher, and Sam understood most of it. After about fifty minutes, Blaine nodded and grinned. "I think you've got it well enough that you'll be able to make it through rehearsal tomorrow, at least. A lot of it will make more sense when the whole group is dancing together."

"If you say so, dude," Sam said, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand and grinning at Blaine. "Thanks for helping me out."

"It's no problem," Blaine said. "Want some water? I can go grab some. Dinner should be ready soon, too."

"It's ready right now," Marie said as Blaine walked into the kitchen, Sam following behind. "Why don't you set the table while I go get your father?"

"So you just happened to finish cooking right when Sam and I finish rehearsing?" Blaine asked as he walked over to grab the plates and passed them to Sam, who started setting them on the table. He grabbed the glasses and added, "You could have interrupted us, you know. You didn't have to wait until we were done."

"Nonsense. It was no big deal," Marie said with a smile. "Besides, I like listening to the two of you sing too much to interrupt. Of course I've heard Blaine a million times, but I didn't realize that you had such a nice voice, Sam."

Sam blinked, slightly caught off guard by the compliment. "Thanks," he said. "I didn't realize you could hear us singing. Sorry."

"Don't apologize, you sounded wonderful," she said. "Gave me something to listen to while I finished dinner."

Blaine smiled. "Thanks, Mom," he said, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek. She smiled, then went to go get Mr. Anderson.

"Any last-minute tips?" Sam whispered as he and Blaine finished setting the table.

Blaine shook his head. "It'll be fine," he said. "He's already gotten all the big questions out of the way, so hopefully there won't be anything left for him to grill you about."

"Or that's what he wants us to think," Sam countered. "He asked me all those questions to make me think that the interrogation is over, and now he's going to bust out the big guns and take me by surprise."

Blaine smiled slightly. "It's my dad, Sam, not a supervillian," he said. "I don't think he has any crazy schemes."

"You never know, dude," Sam said, making sure to keep his face completely serious, even though he was trying to hold back a laugh. "You never know."

Honestly, Sam didn't think that Blaine's dad was going to try anything supervillianish – though, he'd dated enough girls to know that dads could get really overprotective when they were trying to decide if Sam was trustworthy or not. It wasn't like he knew what meeting the parents was supposed to be like when both people in the relationship were boys, but he wouldn't be surprised if Blaine's parents were just as overprotective. Not to mention that Blaine kept saying that his dad wasn't really accepting of the fact that Blaine liked guys, and so far, he'd been way more welcoming than Sam had expected. At least he hadn't flat-out refused to let Sam date Blaine. Yet. Sam couldn't help but wonder what was coming, as if a bomb was going to drop on them any minute.

Dinner was a lot easier than Sam had expected, though. Mr. Anderson didn't really say much. He mostly nodded along (though Sam couldn't tell if he was listening or not), pulling out his phone to check it every couple of minutes. So Sam, Blaine, and Marie were the only ones who were actually talking during dinner. It felt like any other time that Sam had come over to Blaine's house, with Marie asking them questions about glee club that Sam gladly answered.

"We has auditions last Wednesday, during lunch. Blaine and I sang together. He picked this awesome song," Sam said towards the end of diner, in response to Marie's question about how they'd gotten a duet together. "I mean, I don't listen to a whole lot of Taylor Swift. She's a good artist and all, but I just don't pay much attention to her music. But Blaine's idea to use her song was awesome. It was just perfect, and fit the theme Mr. Schue had given us. And Blaine sounded great on it. Seriously, it is so much fun to sing with him. Saturday's going to be awesome!" He caught the amused look that Blaine was sending him and realized that he'd been ranting. He glanced down. "Sorry. I got a little excited."

Marie laughed and smiled. "Don't apologize! I'm glad that you're so happy." She stood and started collecting the empty plates. Sam quickly stood to help her. "No, no, you sit," she said. "I can take care of it."

Sam shook his head. "I don't mind," he said. He wanted to be well-behaved and make a good impression. And anyway, he'd feel weird about sitting and letting her do all the work on her own. It wouldn't be polite. Blaine nodded in agreement, also standing to help collect the dishes.

"Mom made a cake yesterday," Blaine said as he opened the dishwasher and started putting the plates inside. "You have to try it. She bakes the best desserts in the world."

Marie grabbed a dishtowel and playfully swatted Blaine's arm with it. "He's only saying that because he's a suck-up," she told Sam.

Blaine laughed and pulled the dishtowel out of her hand. "I am not!" he said. He threw the towel back to Sam, who hung it back over the refrigerator handle.

"Mmmhmm. Right." Marie shook her head at Sam. "Don't believe a thing he tells you," she said as she opened the fridge.

Sam laughed. "She does have a point, Blaine." Blaine was totally a suck-up. Then again, he honestly didn't seem to realize just how much he sucked up to pretty much everybody, so Sam wasn't sure if it still counted.

Marie set the cake on the counter. Sam grinned. "Blaine's right. That looks fantastic," he said. "It's like something you'd get in a bakery or something."

Marie just rolled her eyes. "You've been spending too much time with my son. He's rubbing off on you," she said, though she smiled as she reached for the knife.

It wasn't until they were all seated at the table with their pieces that Marie asked, "So, what I want to know if why you two didn't tell me that you were dating."

Blaine and Sam glanced at each other. "It's kind of a new thing," Sam said hesitantly. Which was true.

Blaine nodded. "We just went on our first date yesterday," Blaine added, which was also true, even if they weren't technically dating yet.

Marie smiled. "What took you so long?" she asked with a small laugh. "I knew that I'd convince the two of you eventually." She leaned forward and held up her hand to block her mouth so that Sam couldn't see it, though she still whispered loud enough that Sam could clearly hear her. "Good job, Blaine."

Blaine grinned, and Sam relaxed. He'd figured that Marie, at least, would be fine with them dating, since she'd always seemed to like Sam. Really, Mr. Anderson had been the one that Sam was worried about, and even he seemed to be pretty okay with it. Still, it was really awesome to know that Marie approved. It made Sam feel a whole lot better about the whole thing.

It was getting kind of late, so as soon as they finished their pieces, Sam stood and glanced at Blaine. Blaine must have known what that meant, because he nodded and also stood. "I'm going to take Sam home now," he said.

"So soon?" Marie asked with a small frown. "You can stay longer if you wish."

"I've got homework that I have to do," Sam said. "Thanks for having me over, though. That was really nice."

Marie shook her head as she put the rest of the cake in the fridge. "You come here often enough that you don't have to thank me every time," she said.

"But he will," Blaine added. Which was totally true.

Mr. Anderson stood and tucked his phone into his pocket. Sam walked over to him, figuring that he should be polite and say goodbye. "It was very nice to meet you," he said, holding out his hand for Mr. Anderson to shake.

Mr. Anderson glanced down at his hand but didn't shake it. "Actually, I was wondering if we could go speak in my office, just the two of us," he said. "It won't be more than a minute."

"What for?" Blaine asked, his voice slightly defensive.

"I just want to speak with him," Mr. Anderson said.

Sam bit his lip, but nodded. He was kind of worried – shit, maybe this was going to be when Mr. Anderson told him that he wasn't good enough for Blaine – but he wasn't about to refuse to do anything Mr. Anderson told him. That wouldn't make the right impression. So he just smiled at Blaine. "Be back in a minute," he said, then followed Blaine's dad back into his office.

Mr. Anderson closed the door as soon as they entered, and gestured for Sam to take a seat in one of the chairs along the wall. When Sam did, Mr. Anderson sat as well, turning his desk chair around so that it faced Sam's.

"What did you want to talk to me about?" Sam asked. He was definitely feeling more nervous now, but he tried not to show it, even though it was hard to keep from fidgeting.

"I guess this is the point where I'm supposed to give you the traditional Dad speech about what I'll do if you hurt Blaine," Mr. Anderson said. Sam didn't respond, just waited to see what came next. After a moment, Mr. Anderson sighed. "I'm not actually going to do that. Just, take care of Blaine, okay? I guess I can't control who Blaine dates, and he wouldn't listen to me even if I tried. And he certainly seems happier than he was at the beginning of the year, so if you had anything to do with that, then I guess I can't complain."

Sam waited for more, but Mr. Anderson didn't add anything else. Sam frowned. "Was that all that you wanted to tell me?"

"Why did you decide to date Blaine?" Mr. Anderson asked.

The question kind of came out of nowhere, but it was something that Sam had been thinking about for weeks, ever since the kiss in Blaine's bedroom. And even before that, Sam had been vaguely wondering why his feelings for his best friend seemed different that they used to. So he had his answer ready. "Because he's awesome," Sam said. "I mean, I know that sounds really stupid, but that's the reason. He's the nicest dude I've ever met, and he's funny, and he's really sweet. Who wouldn't want to date him?"

Mr. Anderson frowned, not looking entirely happy with that answer. Sam quickly tried to think of something else to say. "And... we just sort of get each other. I can tell when he's down about something, and he usually knows when I'm having a problem or something." He thought for another few seconds, then added, "We started hanging out because I wanted to win the election, and I never really thought that we'd become such good friends. But then he started having problems with Kurt, and... well, it sucked, and I wanted to make him feel better. He didn't deserve to keep beating himself up like that. So I started trying to make him see how great he was and, well, I think it helped me just as much as it helped him." Sam wasn't sure if he should be saying all this. Blaine had made it clear that he wasn't close to his dad, so Sam didn't know how much of this Mr. Anderson already knew, and how much Blaine would want him to know. But he decided not to think about that, and just say what he thought.

To his relief, Mr. Anderson smiled slightly at that, though is disappeared just as soon as it appeared. "You can go now."

Sam frowned but stood, wondering what all of this had been about. After being asked to speak to Mr. Anderson alone, Sam had been expecting something much bigger and more dramatic, but he definitely wasn't going to complain.

Especially since Mr. Anderson had just given him permission to date Blaine. That was what just happened, right? He hadn't actually said that, but he'd said that he wasn't going to complain, so that had to count.

"Everything okay?" Blaine asked as Sam walked back out to the kitchen.

Sam grinned. "I'm pretty sure everything is great."

* * *

Blaine hesitated for a moment, then knocked on his dad's door.

"Come in," Dad called. Blaine pushed open the door and walked inside. Dad turned around in his chair to look at him. "Did you take Sam home?"

"Yeah, I just got back from dropping him off," Blaine said. "I just wanted to say thank you. For wanting to meet Sam, and for supporting my decision to date him."

"He seems like a nice kid," Dad said. "He needs to figure out where he's going with his life, but he's nice enough. You could do much worse."

Blaine just nodded. "But I was wondering why you did all this," he said slowly. "I dated Kurt for a year and a half, and you never asked to meet him, or asked him any of these questions. So why are you doing this with Sam when we've only just gotten together?"

Dad sighed and shook his head, then gestured to the chair next to him. Blaine sat, not taking his eyes off his dad. "I've been thinking a lot this year," Dad said. Blaine nodded, encouraging him to go on. "I saw how upset you were when you and Kurt broke up."

Blaine couldn't help but grimace a little at that. Saying that he'd been "upset" last fall was a major understatement.

"And I realized that I don't know why you cared about that," Dad said. Blaine opened his mouth, but Dad held up his hands before Blaine could say a word. "No, let me finish. I'm not saying that to be mean, or because I think Kurt is a bad person. I'm saying it because I don't know what kind of person he was. I don't think I know a thing about him except for his name and the fact that he has a very odd taste in clothes. But he must have meant something to you, if the breakup made you that upset. And I don't have a clue why."

Dad looked down at his hands. "And I realized that you're going to college soon. You'll be living in New York, dating people that I never have a chance to meet, living a completely separate life. And I'm scared that you're going to leave without me even knowing who you are."

"Dad," Blaine said around the lump in his throat, but couldn't think of what to add after that.

"You know that Cooper hardly makes it home from California. I've probably seen him three times in the ten years since he moved out there," Dad said. "What's to stop you from doing the same thing when you move to New York?"

"I wouldn't do that," Blaine said, even though he wasn't sure if that was true or not.

Dad shook his head. "I haven't given you much reason to come home," he said, then cleared his throat and turned away. "Anyway, Sam seems like a good guy. You should invite him over again sometime. He could be my future son-in-law, you know."

Blaine blinked hard, trying to hide the fact that his eyes were suddenly wet. Out of everything he'd expected when he'd picked up Sam from work, this had definitely not been it.

Dad turned back to his desk. "Is there anything else you need? Because this report needs to be finished by tomorrow morning," Dad said, in a voice that made it clear that all of the sentimental talk was over.

Blaine shook his head and stood. He started to leave, but hesitated for a moment in the doorway. "Dad?" he said, then waited until Dad was looking at him. "Thanks."

He'd made it halfway out the door when he heard Dad say, "If you and Sam have any problems... Or if you're having problems with anything else, you can come talk to me about it."

"I will," Blaine said. And strangely enough, he actually meant it.


	29. Chapter 29

**This story has officially gotten more than 200 reviews. That's just... wow. That's far more than I ever expected, and I'd like to thank every person who's reading this story. The support I've recieved is amazing. Thank you all so much, especially my beta Tuuzmorado, who still takes time out of her busy schedule to help me with this story. Everyone send her love, because she's a wonderful person who deserves all that and more. :)**

* * *

Sam scowled as he stared down at the chemistry problem he was trying to figure out. He had to balance some stupid equation, which he hated, because he had never quite figured out how to do that. He sighed and turned to ask Blaine for help, but Blaine was busy explaining something to Ryder. Ryder had the same study hall as the two of them, and recently the three of them had started studying together. And by that, Sam meant that Blaine basically agreed to help the two of them out, because he was awesome like that.

A book suddenly dropped onto their table, and Sam turned to see Kitty standing over them. He frowned. "What are you doing here?" he asked. She definitely wasn't in this class. Sam was pretty sure that she wasn't even taking a study hall.

She ignored him and dropped into the seat next to Ryder instead. "We need to plan out what we're doing with Sue," she said.

"What?" Blaine asked, sounding just as confused as Sam felt.

Kitty rolled her eyes. "Well, we planned on breaking into her office to look for proof that she cheated, right? Now we need to figure out how we're going to do that. And I figured that since you three losers are already in the same place, I might as well drop by to see if we can figure stuff out."

"Oh, yeah," Sam said. "Wait, isn't Brittany going to be involved in this? We should wait for her to be here. And she probably shouldn't skip any classes." After all, he knew that she really didn't want to get held back again, and she needed all the help that she could get to keep from failing her classes.

"Too late," Kitty said, as Brittany bounced over and sat down next to Sam.

"It's okay," Brittany said, patting the top of Sam's head in a way that was probably supposed to be reassuring. "I have art class this hour, and the teacher already promised to give me an A if I didn't eat the paste and stopped using crayons for every one of my projects."

"So, what exactly are we planning?" Ryder asked, glancing around the group. "I mean, what kind of evidence are we looking for."

Sam turned to Blaine, and everyone else followed suit. Probably because Blaine was just naturally the type of guy who figured stuff like this out. Blaine frowned and leaned hsi elbow on the table, his head resting on his hand, looking like he was thinking about that. "I don't know exactly what we're looking for," he said. "All we need is some sort of evidence that she cheated. We can't know what exactly we're looking for because we don't know how exactly she cheated. So I guess just look for any signs of bribes or blackmail, or anything else that seems suspicious."

Kitty nodded slowly. "So, how exactly are we going to do this?" she asked, her voice vaguely challenging, like she didn't believe that Blaine would be able to come up with an answer. "Sue's in her office all the time, especially now that the competitions are over, so she has nowhere else to go. How are we supposed to get her out of there long enough for us to sneak in, find whatever it is we're looking for, and get out without getting caught?"

"Someone is going to have to distract Sue," Blaine said.

Kitty gave him a look filled with disdain. "Obviously."

"Or we could do it on Thursday," Sam said, making all of them turn to stare at him. "She's doing some mother-daughter thing. I think she said something about kickboxing."

Blaine frowned, his forehead furrowing with confusion. "When were you talking to Sue?"

Crap. Sam still hadn't told Blaine about what had happened with Bobby last Friday, or about getting called to Figgin's office yesterday. It wasn't like he didn't have a good reason – the Cheerio competition had been too important for Sam to distract Blaine right before, and he hadn't wanted to interrupt their date to start talking about sad stuff. Or give Blaine something more to worry about when he was already nervous about Sam meeting his dad. Sam was running out of excuses, though. And this was probably something that he should bring up.

"...I'll tell you later," Sam said. He couldn't say anything now. Ryder, Kitty, and Brittany were all listening. And, well, Kitty and Brittany already knew about Sam wanting to date Blaine, but Ryder didn't. And that didn't mean that they needed to hear about his bullying issues.

Blaine's frown deepened, probably hearing something weird in Sam's voice, since Blaine seemed to have some secret radar that told him when Sam was upset. But he just nodded slowly. "Later. Okay."

While Sam had been thinking over his response, Kitty had pulled out her iPhone and started typing something on the screen. Now, she looked up and said, "The only Mommy and Me Kickboxing class meeting anywhere near Lime begins at three, and it's about a half hour drive from here. That means that she'll have to leave at two thirty at the latest."

"Woah, you googled that fast," Ryder said, sounding honestly impressed, which made Kitty roll her eyes.

"I always thought that a google was a mix between a poodle and a goldfish, but Santana says that that's not true," Brittany said.

"Class gets out at three, and Glee starts about fifteen minutes after that," Sam said, thinking out loud. "So, we skip the last half hour of class so that we can search her room?"

"What about the locks on the doors?" Ryder asked. "I mean, I've never been in Sue's office, but I know all the other teachers lock up, and she's kind of crazy paranoid, so..."

"Yeah, she does lock her office," Blaine said. He leaned forward, resting his chin on his hand as he thought. "What we need to do is get the key somehow. Or we could try to sabotage the lock, but that could get us into trouble if we're caught."

"I think I'd be too scared to do that," Sam said quickly. He didn't even want to think of what Sue would do if she saw them do something like that. Then again, they were already risking having her go psycho on them just by sneaking into her room, but at least that was something that needed to be done. He figured that they could find a better way in then sabotaging the locks. At least, he hoped that he could.

"Well, how do we get the key then?" Ryder asked.

Kitty crossed her arms, leaning back into her chair and looking like she was considering something. "As far as I know, there's only one key to her office," she said. "And I've never seen her let anyone touch it except for Becky."

Surprisingly, Brittany was the first to catch on. "So, we see if Becky can get the key, then use the key to sneak into Sue's office?"

"Do you think that that will work?" Blaine asked doubtfully.

"Maybe if we just ask very nicely?" Brittany suggested. "Pretty please with sugar on top?"

Blaine shook his head. "Becky would never help us if it meant exposing Sue's cheating, and I'd feel bad if we tricked her into helping us without telling her what we were doing." Sam nodded in agreement.

"So, what?" Kitty asked, her voice filled with contempt. "You think that you can come up with something better? Well, I'd like to hear it."

Sam bit his lip and glanced at Blaine, who also looked like he didn't have any better ideas.

Kitty smirked. "Thought so."

"Does she lock her windows?" Brittany asked, glancing around the group. "Why don't we just climb through there?" She sounded confused, like she didn't understand why no one had thought of that. And, for that matter, Sam didn't know why he hadn't thought of it, either. The office was on the bottom floor, after all. Meaning that this just might work.

"I'm sure there's some sort of lock on the windows," Blaine said thoughtfully. "But she probably wouldn't notice if it was left unlocked. Meaning that one of us could sneak into her office while she wasn't looking, unlock the window, and get out before she returned. Then, after she leaves for her class, the five of us could open the window from the outside and climb in."

"And nobody will notice if a whole group of us leave class, go outside, and climb through her window?" Ryder asked doubtfully.

"Well, only one of us would have to climb through the window," Blaine said. "Once one of us is inside the office, he can open the door and let everyone else in that way."

Sam grinned. "Ooh! Ooh! Can I do it?" he asked. Because his attempt to follow Sue unnoticed had failed, and it was about time for Blonde Chameleon to redeem himself. Plus, that sounded like a ton of fun.

"If you want," Blaine said, obviously amused by Sam's enthusiasm. "But we still need to decide who will sneak in and unlock the window."

"That would be you," Kitty said. "You can use your dorky superhero persona to pretend you're fighting crime or whatever it is that nerds like you and Sam do when you're in costume. Besides, if you get caught, you'll have the best excuse for being there, since you're the co-captain."

Blaine thought it over, then nodded. "I won't use the costume, since it would attract too much attention, but Nightbird is on the case," he said. Sam gave his a fist bump. Whenever Nightbird and Blonde Chameleon joined forces, the results were always awesome. Like when the two of them had stolen their trophy back from Dalton. This was going to be just as epic, even if they couldn't use costumes.

"But you have to distract Sue," Blaine added to Kitty. "Sue already knows that Ryder and Sam are onto her, and she probably thinks the same of me, but she won't suspect anything if you start talking to her in the hallway."

"What about me?" Brittany asked. "I could help distract Sue."

Blaine hesitated. Sam thought that he understood. As sweet as Brittany was, there was no way that she'd be able to keep a secret. It was probably a good idea to keep her as far away from Sue as possible until all of this was over.

"We can be the lookout," Sam offered. "The two of us can stand in the hallway and text Blaine if we see Sue coming so that he has time to get out." There. That would give Brittany something important to do. And Sam could be there with her to make sure that she didn't accidentally spill their plan to Sue. Brittany smiled and nodded enthusiastically.

"I could be the second lookout instead," Ryder offered. "I mean, since you're already the one who has to sneak in through her window. That'll give me something to do."

Sam shrugged. "Sure," he said, since it was only fair that Ryder got a job of some sort.

"So we have a plan," Blaine said, and everyone nodded.

"Now that that's done, can we keep working on my math homework?" Ryder asked, sounding somewhat sheepish.

"Sure," Blaine said easily, scooting his chair closer to Ryder's and bending over the worksheet together.

Sam glanced down at his own chemistry worksheet, which he still hadn't started. "And after that, can you help me balance these equations?" Blaine looked up from helping Ryder long enough to nod, then turned back and kept explaining something about pi.

"Here, I got this," Kitty said, grabbing Sam's worksheet and taking a look at it. "Okay, so you want the equation to be equal on both sides, right? So you-"

"You've taken chemistry already?" Sam asked.

"I'm taking it this year," she said, "and trust me, this junk is easy. I'll explain how to do it if you want. But keep in mind, I'm only helping you out because I like making you feel stupid for not understanding things that even I know."

Sam just shrugged. By now, he'd been around Kitty enough that he barely payed attention to her insults anymore. He'd figured out that it was the stuff that she did that counted, not the things that she said while she did it. Because even when she was doing something nice, the stuff she said while she did it was basically guaranteed to offend you. "Hey, at this point I'll take whatever help I can get."

* * *

When Sam left study hall about twenty minutes later, he was in an awesome mood. For one, they had a plan that would hopefully let them prove that Sue was cheating. One that sounded like something out of a spy film while still being realistic enough to work. (Okay, most spy films would have something a lot more bad ass than just climbing through an unlocked window, but Sam liked to pretend.) Not to mention that Kitty had been surprisingly good at explaining chemistry, so Sam had gotten all of his homework done. By now, he was feeling like nothing could spoil his good mood.

Until he saw Bobby glaring at him from across the hallway. Then he remembered that, yeah, there was definitely one person who could make him feel like crap.

Actually, there was more than one person, Sam realized, when another guy from the soccer team bumped shoulders with him as they passed in the hallway. It wasn't enough to hurt, or push Sam into a locker or anything. But it did remind him that the whole team still hated his guts. So yeah, that kind of killed his mood.

Sam ducked his head and grabbed the right book from his locker, then hurried to his next class as quickly as he could. The less time spent in the hallways with these guys, the better.

It didn't stop there. It seemed like every time that Sam walked down a hall, he ran into at least one of the soccer jocks, and all of them kept giving him looks like they were imagining him dead or something. None of them said anything, but it still made him feel nervous, and he swore that the force of their glares was enough to make his skin crawl. Or maybe he was just getting itchy and uncomfortable because he was sure that a slushy was going to come flying at him any second. But it never did, so Sam did his best to relax and try to ignore them.

Blaine seemed to sense that something was wrong when they sat together at lunch, but Sam just waved away his concern and got him talking about his role-playing club instead. Which Blaine was more than happy to ramble on about – it was obvious that he couldn't wait until Regionals were over and he had enough time to attend the meetings again.

"See you in Spanish," Sam said, as he and Blaine parted ways after lunch. Blaine nodded and waved as he walked away.

The soccer jocks were hanging out a few feet from Sam's locker again, just like they had been yesterday. And again, Sam did his best to ignore them, but it was getting harder and harder to do. Especially since he was getting more and more creeped out by the fact that they always seemed to turn up wherever he was.

"What is your problem?" he finally demanded, turning toward them as he slammed his problem. "What are you doing here?" Not that he expected an answer, since trying to talk to them yesterday had just gotten him insulted.

Bobby raised his eyebrows. "What are you doing?" he spat back. "We're not doing anything but standing here, so stop bothering us."

"Me? Bothering you?" Sam would laugh at that if he wasn't so weirded out by whatever it was that they were doing.

"Yeah, that's right," Bobby said, leaning back against the wall with his arms crossed, glaring at Blaine. "Let me guess. You're going to try to get us to say something bad so that you can sic Sue on us like the stupid little teacher's pet that you are."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Sam said, turning away. Okay, so trying to talk to them had been stupid. He wasn't about to do that again. Now he just had to get to chemistry as fast as he could, and try to forget about all of these jerks.

"Oh, right," Bobby said. "And the fact that Sue always jumps in and rescues her whenever you go whining to the teachers, even when you don't have any proof? Or that you say one word and Beiste'll punish whoever you say, even though you're not even on the damn team anymore? You know nothing about that, either?"

"Maybe it's because you're a jerk and the teachers are sick of you getting away with shit," Sam snapped back, before remembering that he'd decided not to say anything.

Bobby laughed. "You're just a damn teacher's pet," he said, sounding more scornful than Sam had thought he'd be capable of sounding. And for some reason, that hurt more than Sam had thought that it would, even though he shouldn't care what Bobby had to say. "Maybe you think that you can get all the teachers to believe whatever you say, but we know you're full of shit."

"Hey, back off."

Sam turned, surprised. Or maybe shocked was a better word, because if Sam has stopped to think of all the people who would have stuck up from him, Lipoff would have been at the bottom of the list, slightly below Voldemort (who was a fictional character and evil to boot). Which is why it was hard to believe that Lipoff was the one who stepped out of the crowd of soccer players to tell Bobby to stop. Though judging by the look on his face, he didn't do it out of the goodness of his heart.

"You said it yourself, he's got the teachers going crazy about him," Lipoff said, sneering at Sam, then shaking his head and turning away. "You mess with him, and Sue will be going after your ass to get you kicked off the team." He looked back at Sam, his face angry enough to make Sam flinch, then mentally kick himself for it. "Just back off. He and his fag boyfriend are messed up, anyway. Why bother teaching them a lesson when they're already doomed to be freaks?"

This time, Sam managed to keep himself from wincing at the words. Which shouldn't bother him. He knew that some people weren't going to like him when he started dating Blaine, and he knew that the soccer team was among them. So what? He should've resigned himself to this already.

He didn't think it could ever be that simple, though.

The bell rang, making Bobby scowl. "Shit, you remember what Beiste said about us not skipping class anymore," he said, the looked at Sam. "Lipoff's right. Just forget the fucking fag and let's go."

Sam watched them leave until all of them were out of side. Only then did he turn and head off in the opposite direction, towards the science classroom. He'd just had a run-in with the soccer team that didn't end with him being hit or slushied. And they sounded like they didn't want to get in trouble with Sue anymore, and they knew that they would if they bothered Sam, so maybe that would make them back off a little, like Lipoff had told them to? Sam could hope, anyway. So this could be a good thing, even if it didn't feel like it.

He tried to tell himself that. It wasn't really working.


	30. Chapter 30

**Sorry that this chapter is a little late. I lost track of time yesterday and completely forgot to publish it. But it's here now.**

**As always, thanks to my beta Tuuzmorado.**

* * *

Blaine stopped by Sam's locker before Spanish class, but Sam never showed up. That was slightly odd – they normally walked to class every chance that they got – but Blaine shrugged as he headed toward the classroom. Sam must have gotten caught up talking with someone, or had some question to ask Mr. Schue before class began. Either way, Blaine figured that he'd better hurry to class instead of waiting for Sam any longer, otherwise he was going to be late.

Sam was already seated at his desk when Blaine slipped into the room, seconds before the bell rang. "Hey," Blaine said as he took his seat next to Sam, after glancing to the front of the room to make sure that Mr. Schue wasn't about to start teaching. Blaine didn't want to get in trouble for talking during class, but Mr. Schue was still glancing through a pile of papers, so Blaine figured that this was fine.

"Hey," Sam said. His voice was low, and quiet enough that Blaine had trouble hearing him, and he didn't glance up. Instead, he kept jabbing his pencil at his notebook, hard enough to tear holes in the paper.

Blaine frowned and scooted to the edge of his seat, trying to move closer to Sam so that none of their classmates could overhear them. Not that any of them seemed to be paying attention to them, anyway, but Blaine wanted to make sure. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, of course it is," Sam snapped, with an obvious bite in his voice. "Why wouldn't it be?"

Okay, that was definitely not like Sam. The words themselves weren't unusual, but the way he said it was. Sam didn't normally sound that annoyed, or as bitter as he did at the end of his question. "Are you sure?" Blaine asked, scooting even closer to Sam, until he was close to falling off his chair. "If something is bothering you, you can tell me."

Sam moved away. "I said I'm fine, so just drop it," he snapped, sounding harsh enough to make Blaine flinch. Sam must have noticed that, because he sighed and shook his head. "Sorry. I've just got to think about something, okay?"

Blaine swallowed and nodded. "Yeah, sure," he said.

Mr. Schue started to address the class then, and Blaine turned to face the front, trying to look like he was paying attention even though he couldn't care less about the lesson.

Despite the way Sam had snapped at him, Blaine didn't think that Sam was actually upset with him. They had been fine at lunch, and Blaine couldn't think of any way that he could have angered Sam in the hour since then. No, this was more like the way that Sam had been acting during the photo shoot, after he'd learned his SAT score. It was something that Blaine had figured out about Sam – whenever he got mad, at himself or someone else, he could turn into a real jerk to be around. Which usually meant that Sam was the one hurting the most.

Something must have happened between lunch and now. Blaine wasn't entirely sure what that could have been, but he was a little scared that he already knew. His best guess was that Lipoff was involved somehow, because Blaine still had no idea what had made Lipoff stop bullying the two of them, and therefore he had no way of knowing how long the change would last.

Blaine turned to study Sam as much as he could without being obvious about it. Sam was in the same plaid shirt and jeans that he'd had on this morning, so he couldn't have been slushied. And he didn't look hurt at all, so it couldn't have been a fight, either. But just because those were the only ways that Lipoff had bullied Sam in the past didn't mean that he couldn't switch to something new now.

Blaine really, really hoped that he was wrong about his suspicions. Maybe Sam was annoyed with someone else, or just tired or cranky or some other emotion that wasn't really a big deal. Blaine kind of doubted that, though.

It wasn't until the end of class that Blaine got the chance to talk to Sam again. Mr. Schue assigned them some problems in the book for homework, and told them that they could use the last five minutes of class to work on them. Ordinarily, Sam and Blaine would immediately scoot their desks together and work on their homework together. Instead, Sam just flipped open his book and got to work, leaning forward towards his desk in a way that made him turn his back on Blaine.

Blaine cleared his throat. "Want to work on them together?" he asked.

"Nah," Sam said. He was already scrawling the answer to the first question, which was impressive, because most of the other students hadn't even finished getting their books out yet.

"Why not?" Blaine asked. He had a feeling that he wasn't going to get a good answer – not with the way Sam was acting – but he figured he might as well try, anyway. "We always do our work together."

"It's just ten problems, what's the big deal," Sam snapped, hunching even further over his desk. "I don't need your help with everything, you know. I'm smart enough to answer them on my own." As if to prove it, he scribbled down the second answer, then started flipping roughly through the book to look up the next answer.

Blaine frowned. "I- What?" He wasn't sure where exactly that had come from. He had been expecting something about wanting to be alone, or not wanting to talk to Blaine until he'd finished his thinking or whatever it was he was doing. This had been the farthest thing from his mind. "I never said that you weren't," he said. "I just like working on the problems together. Why would you think that I don't think you're smart enough?"

Sam snorted. "Come on, it's not like everyone doesn't think it. That I'm stupid and not good enough. And I'm sick of it."

Blaine blinked, not having any idea where this was coming from, or what to say in response. "Sam," he began, reaching out to touch Sam's shoulder, then hesitating with his hand halfway between them.

"Just leave it alone," Sam said, then shifted in his seat to turn his back on Blaine completely.

Blaine stared at Sam's back for a minute, then slowly turned and pulled his own book out of his backpack so that he could get to work. He was more convinced than ever that there was something going on – something that he definitely needed to talk to Sam about – but obviously he wouldn't get any answers until after Sam calmed down and started making sense. Or until Blaine could find a way to figure out what was bothering Sam without Sam needing to say it. Whichever came first. Until then, Blaine didn't know what else there was to do except wait and hope that he'd be able to figure out a solution.

Sam left the classroom as soon as the bell rang without so much as glancing in Blaine's direction. Blaine followed behind, taking a deep breath and reminding himself that this was fine. Well, not fine, exactly. But he did tell himself that it didn't matter if Sam's actions hurt his feelings a little, because Sam wouldn't act like this if something bad hadn't happened. Which meant that Sam was the one who needed help, and Blaine was going to figure out how to give it to him.

It did hurt his feeling a little, though. But he ignored that for now.

His final class was spent thinking of ideas, trying to come up with ways that he could figure out what was going on with Sam, and mostly drawing a blank. The only idea he could think of was to talk to Sam and try to get him to tell Blaine what was bothering him, and with Sam in a mood like this, Blaine wasn't sure how well that would work. But even if Sam didn't want to talk to him, he might still let something slip that would tell Blaine what to do next.

And anyway, Sam should talk to him, right? They had promised that they would figure things out together, no matter what the problem was, and Blaine wasn't about to let Sam forget about that now. He could understand why Sam might not want to have a conversation like that in the middle of a crowded classroom, but once they were alone, Blaine wasn't about to let anything stop them. So, when the dismissal bell finally rang, Blaine hurried towards Sam's locker first thing. With any luck, they'd be able to talk about it before Glee. Even if there wasn't time to really get into the details, Blaine hoped that they could at least start to figure things out. That was mostly for Sam's sake, of course, but there was a small part of his mind thinking about how they were running their duet today, and there was no way that they'd be able to do a good job if they were having problems. And after how hard the whole team had worked, it wouldn't be fair if he and Sam messed things up.

Blaine had almost reached the hallway where Sam's locker was when Tina stepped into his path. "Hey," she said, linking her arm with Blaine's. "Are you and Sam excited for your duet today?"

"Uh, yeah," Blaine said, side-stepping Tina and pulling his arm away from hers. He felt a small flash of guilt, since it probably wasn't nice to ignore her when she came over here to talk, but whatever was going on with Sam had to be more important than whatever Tina had to say. That didn't stop him from feeling bad about it, though. "Speaking of Sam, I need to go talk to him quickly. Sorry, but-"

"I think Sam's already in the auditorium," Tina said.

"What?" Blaine asked.

She nodded. "He's in my last class. As soon as school ended, he took off running toward the auditorium. I don't think he even stopped by his locker."

"Oh, thanks," Blaine said, turning around to head back toward the auditorium, which was in the opposite direction. He offered his arm to Tina. "Would you like to escort me to glee practice, then?"

She smiled and nodded as she took his arm. But a second later, her smile was replaced with a frown. "Is everything okay with Sam?"

"Oh, yeah, of course," Blaine answered at once, since he didn't know what else to say. "What makes you think that it isn't?"

"He looked really tense during art class," Tina said. Her eyebrows furrowed like she was confused and honestly worried about that. "He was fine at lunch, so I was wondering what changed."

"I don't know," Blaine said, which was the truth, though he kept his voice light to disguise how much that was worrying him. He didn't know why he was trying to hide that from Tina, except that he wasn't sure how to explain. For one, he really didn't know what was wrong. But he had some ideas, and all of them were things that he shouldn't talk to Tina about, like the fact that the rumors about Blaine and Sam were mostly true. That was supposed to be a secret between the two of them until Sam was ready to come out, so he couldn't say anything to Tina, even if she was his best friend.

"You know that you really can tell me anything, right?" Tina said, as if she'd heard his thoughts. "I mean, I know we went through some weird times. And okay, that was my fault. But we're past that, right? And I'm here for you if you want to talk."

Blaine smiled and dropped Tina's arm so that he could give her a hug instead. "Thanks," he said quietly as he squeezed his shoulders, then stepped back. He made sure not to agree to tell her everything, which made him feel guilty even as he hoped that she wouldn't notice. But at the same time, he owed Sam his privacy. And if Sam didn't want him to talk about this, then Blaine wasn't going to say anything.

"So, tell me how it's going with Yoshiro," Blaine said, quickly changing the subject to the one thing he was sure that she'd want to talk about.

And sure enough,er eyes lit up immediately. "Fantastic," she said with a smile. "You still need to meet him sometime."

"I'd like to," Blaine said. "Maybe next week? I don't know if I'll be able to this week, with all the rehearsing that we have to do."

Tina looked disappointed for a moment, but she nodded. Then she brightened. "I'm hanging out with Yoshiro, Jeremiah, and his fiance on Thursday. We're all meeting at the Lima Bean for coffee. And since you're already friends with Jeremiah, that would be perfect. We could all meet after glee."

Blaine thought about what he had planned for Thursday. He and the others were going to break into Sue's office before glee, but that was it. And unless Sue caught them and they ended up chained in her underground dungeon somewhere, there wasn't any reason that they wouldn't be able to meet after glee. Also, Blaine was spending way too much time around Sam if he thought that Sue might actually have a secret dungeon like a stereotypical comic book villain.

"Sounds great," he agreed, then frowned. Jeremiah had been wanting him to bring Sam, and Blaine wasn't sure how well that would work out. For one, Jeremiah was going to ask if they were dating. And even though Sam had said that it'd be fine, and that they'll figure out an answer when they got there, Blaine wasn't sure if he'd be ready to answer that question around Tina. Not to mention that he didn't want to upset Tina again by making her think that he was ignoring her because of Sam.

Tina solved the second problem when she added, "You should see if Sam can come."

Blaine turned to her, surprised. "Why?" He never thought that she would willingly tell him to include Sam in any of their plans.

Tina shrugged. "Just because," she said.

Blaine decided not to ask what she meant. "Thanks," he just said again, giving her another quick one-armed hug as they kept walking toward the auditorium. Whatever the reason, Blaine was incredibly grateful for Tina's offer. Maybe she had gotten over her jealousy, and Blaine imagined that their friendship could only become stronger for it.

Now, Blaine just to figure out what was hurting Sam, and find a way to make it stop.

* * *

Sam was the first one to reach the auditorium. He dropped into one of the seats in the front row and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. The thing he liked most about the auditorium and choir room was that none of the evil jocks would ever be caught dead in them, so Sam didn't have to worry about anyone bothering him. And there was a fifteen-minute period between the end of school and the beginning of glee. Most of the club would get here early to hang out, but Sam still figured that he'd have at least five minutes to himself before anyone showed up. That was good. He needed those five minutes.

He'd tried to think things over during class, but that had been a lot harder than he'd thought that it would be. For one, he did still need to pay attention, since he didn't want to fail any of his classes and mess up his grades even more than they already were. But more than that, he couldn't concentrate on anyone when he could feel the eyes of his classmates on him. It didn't matter if none of them were actually looking at him. He still felt like they were.

But here, in the auditorium? Here he could start to relax. And maybe there was a lot of stuff that Sam should be thinking about, but instead, he just let himself slump further down in his chair and chill out, try and calm himself down and forget all about those stupid jerks before glee started.

"Hey, Sam," Ryder said. Sam opened his eyes and blinked, checking his watch. Almost seven minutes had passed without him even noticing, and the glee club was starting to arrive. Joe, Sugar, and Unique were sitting on the edge of the stage already, while Artie and Jake were on stage, talking about something. Sam turned toward Ryder in time to see him drop into the seat next to him. "Were you sleeping or something?"

"Uh, no," Sam said. "Just resting. It was a long day at school." That was a pretty big understatement. But this was his safe place. Sam wasn't about to start thinking about the bad things here.

"Oh, cool," Ryder said. He was bouncing in his seat, jiggling his knees up and down. Which wasn't exactly unusual – Ryder hardly ever stopped moving – but something about the excited look on his face made Sam think that something was up.

"What happened?" he asked, already beginning to grin, since he could tell from the look on Ryder's face that this had to be a good thing.

Ryder practically started jumping up and down in his seat. "I'm taking Kitty out to dinner tonight," he said. "I don't know what that means, since she insulted me about five times before she said yes, but I'm really hoping that I'll get to make it a real date."

"That's awesome!" Sam said, holding his hand out for a high five. He was super happy for Ryder, since it was obvious from the way he acted that he really, really liked Kitty. Sam would be thrilled if the two of them actually started dating. And maybe a little jealous. Not that he'd ever want to date either of them, but he kind of wished that it would be that simple for him and Blaine. Go out to eat together, ask a question, and boom, boyfriends. That would be so much better than having to deal with all this drama and waiting, even if they had chosen to wait.

A little voice in his head pointed out that it could be that simple – that he could start dating Blaine today if he just went over and asked him out right now. Sam swept that voice aside, along with all of his jealousy. This was a good thing for Ryder, and Sam was not going to ruin it for his bro by being jealous over the fact that they could date without getting slushied and Sam and Blaine couldn't.

"Yeah," Ryder agreed. Sam suddenly heard footsteps coming from backstage, and Ryder's head jerked up. He broke into a bigger grin when he saw Kitty walk in, along with Blaine and Tina. He hopped to his feet. "I'm going to go talk to her."

Sam got to his feet and followed after Ryder, who had practically run onto the stage. Kitty rolled her eyes when Ryder grabbed her into a giant hug that lifted her off the floor, but she hugged him back for a moment before shoving him away. Ryder laughed as he set her down, and she scowled at him, but a second later her arm wrapped around his waste.

Sam couldn't help but smile when he saw the two of them interact. Then his eyes met Blaine's. Blaine was watching him with an intense and almost nervous look that made Sam instantly feel guilty.

He was about to ask if the two of them could talk in private, but Tina beat him to it. "You wanted to say something to Sam, right, Blaine?" she asked, giving him a light push toward Sam. "I'm going to go ask Marley something about our song," she said, then walked off toward the back of the auditorium, where Marley was just entering.

"Come on," Sam said, holding out his hand. Blaine frowned, looking like this wasn't what he expected, but he immediately grabbed Sam's hand and followed him to the corner of the auditorium, where nobody would be able to overhear them.

Sam took a deep breath and faced Blaine. "Dude, I'm really sorry," he said softly, letting all his sincerity leak into his voice. "I was being a jerk to you in Spanish, and I totally shouldn't have done that. That was really mean of me. Sorry."

Blaine looked surprised, but he didn't say anything. Instead, he walked over to one of the old set pieces from Grease that was still sitting around backstage and sat down on top of it, motioning for Sam to sit next to him. "Why?" he asked, once Sam had sat down. "What happened?"

Sam shifted uncomfortably. No matter how many people he had to tell about the bullying, he still didn't like to say it. At least Blaine would be easier to confide in than Beiste was. "Bobby and his friends," he admitted after a moment.

Blaine grabbed Sam's hand and gave a comforting squeeze. The look on his face had turned fierce. "What did they do?"

"That's not the point right now," Sam said quickly. "The point is, they were being mean to me, and I took it out on you, and that wasn't cool."

Blaine nodded. "You can't keep doing that, you know," he said. "It's the same thing that you did during the photo shoot. And I understand, but you're going to hurt a lot of people if you take it out on your friends whenever you get upset."

"You think I don't know that?" Sam asked. "Dude, it's not like I want to. I just get upset, and it happens, and then I'm really sorry about it and feel like crap for the way I treated people." Sam looked away, but glanced back when he felt Blaine's hand on his shoulder.

"Sam, it's fine," Blaine said. "It's not like you have to have everything figured out right now. And you don't have to be perfect. It's just... something that you have to work on in the future, but you have plenty of time for that."

Sam nodded, ignoring the flash of guilt he felt. It seemed like there was a never-ending list of things that he had to work on. Coming out, standing up to the bullies, telling his parents that he was dating a boy. And now this.

"So, do you want to talk about whatever happened with Bobby?" Blaine asked, in a voice that said that they were going to talk about it anyway, even if Sam didn't want to.

Sam glanced over his shoulder. At some point during their talk, Mr. Schue had gotten to the auditorium. He was talking to Tina now, but glee was going to start any minute. "I don't think we have time," Sam said, turning back to Blaine. And anyway, right now Sam just wanted to be glad that Blaine wasn't mad at him, and get excited over the fact that they got to learn their duet today. Thinking about Bobby right now would just ruin that.

"We are going to talk, though," Blaine said.

Sam nodded. "Of course," he said. He knew that they had to, even if Sam kind of wished that they didn't.

"Okay, then," Blaine said, giving Sam a small smile, and together they stood and walked over to where Mr. Schue was standing.

Tina looked over and saw them coming, then quickly said, "That answers my question, Mr. Schue. Thanks."

"You don't have any questions about the second half of the dance? Because I'd be glad to go over that choreography to you as well," Mr. Schue said.

"Nope, that was all I needed," she said with a smile, then turned and winked at Sam and Blaine.

"Did she just distract Mr. Schue for us so that we could finish talking?" Sam asked, his voice low enough that nobody else would overhear.

Blaine smiled and nodded, mouthing 'Thank you' at her. She grinned back.

Sam still thought that it was really weird to have Tina helping them out, since he and Tina had never particularly liked each other, but he did appreciate the fact that she had turned nice, even if he was a little suspicious about her reasons. He grinned at her, and she gave him a small thumbs-up.

"Everyone gather up," Mr. Schue called. Once everyone had joined them on the stage, he said, "We're going to start by running through the first two songs. If we have any problems, we'll go back and fix them. Once we have those two songs down, we'll move on to blocking All or Nothing. Any questions?" The whole club shook their heads, and Mr. Schue turned to Sam. "Did Blaine explain everything to you? Including where you're supposed to be?"

"We start out on opposite sides of the stage, we enter right before the chorus, and I basically stand next to Tina the whole time," Sam said.

Mr. Schue nodded. "Let's run through it once and see how it goes. After that, we can work out any kinks that we need to." He clapped his hands once. "From the top!"

"You stay on this side," Blaine said, then let go of Sam's hand so that he could walk over to stage left. Sam hadn't even noticed that they'd still been holding onto each other until Blaine moved away. He blushed slightly, realizing that the whole glee club had seen them holding hands like they were already boyfriends, but decided that it didn't matter. Glee was his safe zone. It wasn't like anyone here would make fun of him for it. Well, Kitty or Sugar might, but they wouldn't mean it seriously, so that was fine.

'You Have More Friends Than You Know' was amazing. Sam had never heard it before, and it was way more beautiful than he was expecting, especially with the way that all of their voices blended together. The way Mr. Schue staged it was awesome, too. Marley started out singing alone onstage, then Tina walked out when it was her turn to sing. Unique and Ryder joined in singing during the first chorus, the two of them appearing from the two doors at the back of the auditorium. Sam grinned when he saw that. Mr. Schue really did love using those back doors, and Sam thought it was pretty cool to have people come out of them partway through the performance, making it more of a surprise.

As soon as the first song was over, Kitty bounced onstage to sing the beginning of 'Outcast'. Halfway through her line, Ryder caught her and spun her around, then set her down so that she could keep walking toward center stage. The whole song was full of little things like that. Artie did a wheelie when he first rolled onstage, and Jake and Joe both ran onstage from opposite sides and did a jumping high five as they passed each other. Sam couldn't really tell if this was stuff that Mr. Schue had planned or things that the club came up with for themselves, but either way, he liked it. It showed off everyone's personality more than some of their past routines did.

As for Sam, he did pretty good with the choreography. Sure, there were a few moves that he forgot, and a few times when he was in the wrong spot and bumped into someone, but for the most part he had it down. And he wasn't the only one making mistakes – a lot of the club had forgotten a few things in between yesterday and today – so it wasn't like he was holding the group back. Mr. Schue had them run through the song about five times until he was sure that all the problems had been fixed. Then they took a quick water break and moved onto 'All or Nothing'.

Sam had said it before, but he loved that song. He'd loved it the first time he'd read the lyrics, and it was ever better when he got to sing it with Blaine. And it was best of all when they got to sing it onstage in front of everyone. The choreography was simple. There weren't any dance moves, so Mr. Schue just gave everyone instructions for where to move around the stage and then let them do it.

Sam couldn't stop looking at Blaine as he sang, and every time that he did, he saw Blaine looking back at him. Blaine looked unbelievably happy, and Sam was completely sure that his face looked the same way. How could it not, when he and Blaine were finally getting what they wanted?

He didn't know what it was about the song, but something about singing with Blaine made him feel strong, like he could do anything. Stick up to the bullies, date Blaine, everything. And that was a really amazing feeling. This song wasn't supposed to be romantic, but Sam had a feeling that the way they sang it made it seem like it was. He couldn't bring himself to care.

"That was incredibly, you guys," Mr. Schue said, once they'd finished going over the song for what must have been the fifth or sixth time. "All of you. I am confident that with these three songs, we're going to win ourselves a trip to Nationals! Can I get a round of applause for Marley, for letting us use her songs?"

Sam and the rest of the New Directions started clapping and cheering as loud as they could. Marley smiled and ducked her head to hide her blush. Jake smiled and wrapped his arms around his shoulders, then kissed her on the cheek.

"And the best news is, this year we came up with a new idea that should pay for Nationals, so we won't have to do any fund raising," Mr. Schue said, then held up his hands to stop them from asking any questions. "I'm not going to say anything about that yet. You'll find out about it tomorrow. For now, let's run through the whole routine one more time, and then glee will be dismissed for the day."

"What do you think Mr. Schue was talking about?" Tina asked as they walked over to their beginning places on stage right.

Sam shrugged. "I guess we'll find out," he said, not terribly concerned with it. Anything that payed for their tickets to Nationals was a good thing.

"You and Blaine did a great job on your song," Tina said. She hesitated, like she wasn't sure if she should say anything more, then added, "You're good for each other. Take care of him, okay?"

Sam was about to ask what she meant, but the song started before he got the chance. That was okay. Sam figured it out on his own a second later. He was pretty sure that Tina has just basically said that she knew about him and Blaine, and that she was happy for them.

That should probably be upsetting. He hadn't liked it when Lipoff and the soccer team figured out that he and Blaine were dating, and it had made him all nervous and antsy when Kitty figured it out. Instead, Sam surprised himself by smiled. Tina meant a lot to Blaine, even if Sam sometimes thought that she was a jerk, and it would have sucked if she had gotten upset about them dating. That would explain why she'd been acting nice to him lately. She figured it out somehow, and was being nice to him to make Blaine happy. That nice behavior had been going on for a few days now. Sam was pretty sure that if she was going to tell anyone, she would have done it already.

Okay, he still worried that she was going to say something to out him, but he pushed those thoughts aside and tried to ignore them.

All three of the songs went perfectly, and it was obvious that Mr. Schue was absolutely thrilled when he dismissed them. Blaine and Sam grinned at each other as they said goodbye to the rest of the club, their hands automatically grabbing each other's again. Sam did let go as soon as they left the auditorium, in case they saw any of the soccer guys on the way to the parking lot. Which made Sam feel another prick of guilt, since he shouldn't be doing that, but Blaine just looked at him and nodded like he understood. Which made Sam feel guilty all over again, since he didn't deserve someone as awesome as Blaine. Then Blaine made a joke, and Sam laughed and did his best to forget about the bad feelings.

The ride to Sam's apartment was normal. They spent the whole time joking around and freaking out about how much they loved the song. Then Blaine parked the car, and when Sam climbed out of the car, Blaine followed him. "Let's go up to your apartment," Blaine suggested.

Sam swallowed and nodded. "Okay," he said. He'd been putting it off for a while, but he couldn't do that anymore. It was time to talk to Blaine about everything.


	31. Chapter 31

**As always, I'd like to thank my beta, Tuuzmorado.**

* * *

"I can't believe how much homework I got today," Sam complained as he dropped his backpack next to the couch with a heavy thunk.

"Yeah," Blaine said, but didn't add anything else as he sat on the couch and patted the seat next to him. Sam got the message. Blaine wasn't going to be distracted by talking about other things. And Sam hasn't been trying to distract him, exactly. He definitely knew that they had to talk at some point, even if the thought made his stomach twist. He had just been... putting it off a little. But no more.

He dropped down onto the couch, turning slightly so that he could face Blaine easier, and waited. He'd be the one to start this conversation if he had to, but he kind of hoped that Blaine would do it, since Sam had no idea how to begin. It's be easier to figure out what Blaine was thinking, then go from there.

Thankfully, Blaine did. "What happened today? What did Lipoff do?"

Sam blinked. "Lipoff? What do you mean?"

Blaine shrugged. "I know something happened between lunch and Spanish, and I figured he was behind it. Was I wrong?"

Sam nodded. "It wasn't Lipoff. Actually, he was the one who made the other guys stop."

Blaine frowned like he had a hard time believing that. "Really? Since when has Lipoff been the one to stand up for anyone?"

"Since Sue got to him, I guess," Sam said. "Whatever she did, it must've worked, since the only reason he told them to stop was because he didn't want to get in trouble again. I really want to know what she did." He added the last part almost to himself. Seriously, Lipoff spends the whole year talking trash to everyone, and one meeting with Sue is enough to put a stop to it? There was something going on there, and it was sort of driving Sam crazy to not know what it was.

"Knowing Sue, it was probably something crazy that we'll never figure out," Blaine mumbled. Then he suddenly looked Sam straight in the eye, his eyes sharpening and growing fierce. "Wait, you said _them_. Who were they?"

Sam shifted slightly in his seat, then firmly told himself to stop. He didn't want to act like he was uncomfortable, even if he was. "Mostly Bobby and one of his friends... Uh, I don't actually know the friend's name."

"Mostly," Blaine repeated. "So who else was it?"

"I guess the whole soccer team," Sam admitted. "Have they been doing it to you, too? Like, giving you dirty looks and glaring at you in the hallways?"

Blaine frowned. "Not that I've noticed."

Right. Of course Blaine wouldn't notice something like that - he wasn't exactly the type to pick up on subtle hints. At least it meant that none of the soccer guys were pushing him into lockers and bumping shoulders with him when they passes. Even Blaine wouldn't be able to ignore stuff like that. It was reassuring, but made Sam nervous at the same time. Of course he was glad that Blaine didn't have to deal with this stuff. He'd been a little worried that Blaine was also getting this crap, and just hasn't told Sam about it, just like Sam hadn't told Blaine about what was going on with him. So yeah, that was a good thing. But then-

"Why are they just picking on me, then?" Sam asked, crossing his arms and slumping down into his chair. "I mean, I'm glad they're not going after you. I totally am." Especially since Sam was trying to avoid getting into any more fights, since he didn't want to miss Regionals, and if anyone hurt Blaine, then Sam was going to have to kick their asses, screw the consequences. And he really didn't want to do that. "It's just..."

"Disconcerting," Blaine supplied, then explained before Sam had to ask what that meant. "It's upsetting, and it's making you nervous because you don't know what's going on." He scooted closer to Sam, until their legs were touching, and grabbed Sam's hand. "What exactly happened? It sounds like there was more to it than glares in the hallway."

Sam sighed and looked away. This was the part of the conversation that he'd really hoped to skip.

"I get it," Blaine said quietly after a few seconds had passed in silence. "Trust me, I don't like to talk about this stuff, either. I mean, you probably haven't heard much about the Sadie Hawkins dance my freshman year, even though I'm pretty sure everyone knows about it, even if I'm not sure how they found out."

Sam turned back to Blaine, frowning at the topic change and trying to follow Blaine's logic. "No, not really," Sam said. Tina had said something about it during the week before McKinley's Sadie Hawkins dance, but there hadn't been any details to her story – just something about Blaine having a bad experience with a dance like that, so the glee club should keep an eye out in case he got upset. Before then, Sam hadn't known anything about it, and hadn't really stopped to question why Tina had heard the story but he hadn't. Blaine would probably get embarrassed if he knew that Tina had recruited the whole club to watch over him, though, so Sam decided not to bring that up.

Blaine nodded. "That's because I don't like sharing it," he said. "Sure, I can tell people that I was bullied my freshman year. I even like telling people that, when I'm talking to someone who needs help, and I can use those experiences to reassure them. But the details make it more... real, I guess. Saying I was _bullied_ at a Sadie Hawkins dance isn't a big deal. But telling people that I was _beat up_ at one..." Blaine's mouth twisted slightly when he said the words, and Sam's hands clenched into fists. When Tina had talked to the club, he'd figured that something really bad must have happened to Blaine before he went to Dalton, but he'd never known what. And even though this was three years ago, Sam really wanted to go stand up for Blaine and make those jerks sorry that they'd messed with him.

Blaine continued talking before Sam got the chance to think about that too much, which was probably a good thing. "It's one thing to talk about it vaguely, especially after I've had some time to get used to it. But the details make it more personal. And that makes it more embarrassing to talk about. Makes me feel more like a victim." Blaine was the one to look away this time, and Sam quickly squeezed his hand reassuringly.

Part of Sam was wondering why Blaine was suddenly saying these things when they'd started off talking about Sam's problems, but he wasn't going to ask where this had come from. That seemed kind of rude, and Sam didn't want to make Blaine think that he didn't want to hear it. Because Sam totally wanted to know anything that Blaine was thinking about, especially when it was something serious like this.

But when Blaine turned back to him, he must have read the confusion on Sam's face, because he explained, "The point is that I know why you don't want to say anything. I've been the one who was being bullied before. And you don't think any less of me for it, right? You don't think that I should be embarrassed to admit it?"

"Of course not," Sam said, honestly shocked that Blaine would even have to ask that.

Blaine nodded like that was exactly what he'd expected. "Then why should you be embarrassed about it, either?"

Sam frowned. He could actually think of several reasons why this was different than what happened with Blaine. Blaine had been younger, for one. Sam was eighteen – he should be able to deal with this better than a freshman could. And from the sound of it, Blaine's bullying had been worse than what Sam had to deal with, so of course Blaine wouldn't be able to handle it on his own, and that was nothing to be ashamed about. But it was different with Sam just... because it was.

But he knew what Blaine meant, and he knew that Blaine wouldn't listen if he tried to argue that, so he didn't point any of that out.

And Sam had agreed the second that Blaine had said that they needed to tell each other everything, a few days after they kissed that one time. Sam had thought it sounded like a brilliant idea at the time, especially since Blaine and Kurt's relationship had failed because they'd stopped telling each other what they felt. It had been a lot easier to agree to back when he couldn't imagine having a thought that he wouldn't want to share with Blaine, but, well, it'd be stupid to back down from a promise just because it got uncomfortable.

He took a deep breath. "I guess Bobby wanted to take over where Lipoff left off," he said quietly.

"Insults?" Blaine asked, gently probing for more information. "Slushies? You didn't get into another fight, did you?"

"Uh, all three," Sam admitted, and Blaine's hand tightened around him. "It wasn't really a fight," Sam said quickly, trying to calm Blaine down. "He and a friend came up to me in the hallway and tried to start something, but I didn't want to get into trouble. He just sort of shoved me around a little, but it wasn't as bad as the one with Lipoff. I didn't get hurt or anything." Well, his back had hurt pretty bad from where he'd hit the locker, but that wasn't as bad as he'd gotten hurt when he'd fought Lipoff, so he was basically telling the truth.

When Blaine spoke, his voice was as tight as the hold he had on Sam's hand. "Somehow, knowing that you're being bullied and you can't stand up for yourself without getting into trouble doesn't make me feel any better," he said. Then his eyes locked on Sam's with even more intensity, if that was possible. Sam shifted uncomfortably under Blaine's gaze. For all that Blaine said that he understood how hard it was to talk about these kinds of things, he wasn't doing anything to make it easier. "Wait, you said that Bobby slushied you, but it couldn't have happened today, because you're wearing the same clothes that you had on this morning."

Oh, yeah. "It was on Friday," Sam said. "I didn't tell you because I didn't want to worry you right before the competition and make you mess up."

"Was that the reason, or was it because you didn't want to talk about it?' Blaine asked, his voice still hard.

Sam hunched his shoulders slightly. "Both?"

Blaine sighed, his voice turning softer. "You still should have talked to me about it," he said. "On Sunday, at least, if you really didn't want to bring it up before the competition. I can help you. Give you a place to vent your feelings, and help you come up with what to do if Bobby does something like that again." Even though Blaine said "if" instead of "when", it was obvious from the way he spoke that he was expecting Bobby to try something else.

"I don't think it will," Sam said slowly, then frowned because that wasn't exactly true. "At least, I think that there's a chance that he won't do anything that bad again. Lipoff pointed out that Sue was probably going to get them kicked off the team if they didn't stop it. So it's not like any of them like me or anything, but maybe they'll at least keep from doing anything. And the soccer season lasts until the week before graduation, right? So by the time their season is over, we'll be in the clear." Sam put as much enthusiasm into his voice as he could. He really wanted Blaine to believe this so that he wouldn't worry. And more than that, he really wanted to convince himself that it was true.

Blaine's mouth turned up in the hint of a smile, but it didn't reach any other part of his face, and his body language didn't relax. "We can hope, at least," he said quietly. "Weird that Sue is the one protecting you. You'd think that she'd be the one lining up to fling slushies at us herself."

"Yeah," Sam said. Before this year, he never would have imagined that Sue would do something like this. It was kind of cool how people could be different than who you thought they were, in a bunch of awesome ways.

"So, I told you what happened with Bobby," Sam said. He knew that he'd been light on the details, but it still counted. "Is that everything? Want to go grab something for dinner?" He started to get up off the coach, but was stopped by Blaine's hand on his arm.

"There's one more thing I want to ask you about," Blaine said, his voice cautious, like he wasn't sure if he should say anything at all. Sam slowly sat back down, tensing and nodding for Blaine to continue, even though he had a feeling that this wasn't going to be good. "It's not about Bobby," Blaine said quickly, which did make Sam relax slightly. Even if Blaine insisted there was nothing to be ashamed of, Sam still didn't like to talk about the bullying. "It's about something that you said during Spanish."

Sam felt himself relax a little more, even though he knew that he shouldn't, since Blaine looked upset about this. Still, that wasn't as bad as he'd been expecting. "I told you, I'm really sorry about that," he said, letting his sincerity drift into his voice. Which was easy, since he meant it completely. "You want me to do something to make it up to you? Because I will. Just say the word."

Blaine smiled a little bit more but shook his head. "No, you don't need to," he said. "I know that you were just upset and taking it out on me. And that's not something you can keep doing, but I'm not mad, I swear." Sam frowned and looked hard at Blaine's face, but it didn't look like he was lying.

"Then what?" Sam asked.

"When I asked if we could work on our homework together, you said something about how you were smart enough to do it on your own," Blaine said, then bit his lip. "Then you said that everyone thinks that you're stupid, and accused me of doing the same thing."

Sam winced. "Sorry," he said. "That was just me being angry, like you said. Forget everything I said today, okay? Well, everything I said during Spanish, at least."

Blaine continued like Sam hadn't said anything. "That part worried me the most," he said. "The part about everyone thinking that you're not good enough. Sam, do you really think that?"

Sam frowned and looked down at his hand, still held in Blaine's. To be honest, he hadn't even realized he'd said that. He'd been so angry and upset that stuff had just slipped out without him getting the chance to censor it. Otherwise, he never would have said that out loud.

"No," he said, looking up at Blaine's eyes to make sure that he believed it. "You made that video for me back in January, remember? So I know what all of the glee club thinks of me. I was just upset, and not thinking rationally, and just forget about it."

Blaine didn't look entirely convinced, but he didn't argue. "You're sure?"

"Positive, dude," Sam said with a firm nod.

"Then okay," Blaine said, standing up and pulling Sam to his feet as well. "And I guess it's got to be a good thing that you were trying to convince me that you _were_ good enough, instead of believing that you weren't. Even if you didn't mean any of it," Blaine added.

"Yeah," Sam said quickly. "Anyway, lets go grab some food, okay?" The sooner they got off this topic, the better.

Blaine nodded, a genuine smile appearing on his face for the first time since the start of their conversation. "Sounds great," he said, giving Sam's hand a squeeze as they walked to the kitchen. "Let's see what you have."

Sam breathed a sigh of relief, incredibly glad that their conversation was over with.


	32. Chapter 32

**I'm sorry that this chapter is a couple days late. I haven't been able to write at all last week for personal reasons. For the same reason, I won't be able to post a chapter this Saturday. Chapter 33 will be posted on September 14. Again, I'm sorry about the delays, but real life had to come first.**

* * *

The bullying didn't come up again while they were cooking dinner. Sam and Blaine mostly joked around like they always did. They ended up dragging out the cookbook that Sam's mom had given him and trying to make one of the recipes, which didn't turn out to be a very good idea, considering that Sam's kitchen was barely big enough for one person to stand in, and there was no way to avoid running into each other. One hour, three giant spills, and a ruined bow tie later, they'd managed to make a half-burned macaroni and cheese. It probably would have turned out a lot better, but after Sam had accidentally smeared sauce on Blaine's bow tie, Blaine had basically been forced to chase him around the apartment, trying to smack him with one of the dirty rags they'd been using to clean up after themselves. Sam called that unfair, but Blaine maintained that it was entirely justified. He'd liked that bow tie.

After about half an hour of running around, they suddenly realized that their dinner was burning, and Sam tried to call a truce so that they could go take care of that. Blaine crossed his fingers behind his back as he agreed, then grabbed a handful of flour and threw it into Sam's hair the moment he'd finished pulling the macaroni and cheese out of the oven.

Fair was fair.

It was a lot of fun, which was good, because Blaine was pretty sure that Sam needed something like this. That was the reason why he'd dropped the bullying subject, even though Sam hadn't answered any of his questions nearly as well as Blaine wished that he would. The point was that Sam had at least told him something, and that there was absolutely no way that Blaine was going to let him deal with this on his own anymore. And now that Blaine knew about it, he could keep an eye out to make sure it didn't happen again. Or at least watch so that he'd know when Sam was having trouble, and could be there for him.

There was one question that Blaine had forgotten to ask, though. And as much as he hated to ruin their fun, it was important enough that he didn't want to wait.

"Hey, Sam," Blaine said as they sat at the table, finishing up their dinner. He tried to keep him voice as nonchalant as possible, since he figured that that would upset Sam the least. "What do you think we should do about this?"

Sam had been poking suspiciously as his plate, but now he looked up. "I thought we agreed that we were going to eat whatever parts look the best and agree to never cook together again. At least not until you can control yourself," Sam added with a grin.

"That bow tie was the perfect shade of green. I don't have a single other tie that compliments these pants half as well," Blaine said simply. Revenge had been completely called for, and Sam wasn't going to change his mind about that. Then he shook his head. "Sorry, that wasn't what I was talking about. I mean... What are we going to do tomorrow? About the bullying?"

Sam stiffened slightly. "Dude, I thought we were done talking about it."

"I know, but I just thought of this. Sam, if it's getting bad, then we've got to do something to stop it," Blaine said, scooting his chair closer to the table so that he could reach across and grab Sam's hand easier.

Sam shrugged. "I don't think that there's anything we can do." He said it easily enough, though the way he gritted his teeth told how annoyed he was by that. "Figgins already proved that he's not going to. Beiste and Sue might do something, but that's up to them, and not really anything that we can change." He paused, and Blaine started to speak, but then Sam said, "And anyway, I already said that Lipoff told them to back off with the slushies and the fights. So if the team doesn't listen and tries something bad, then we can figure something out. But maybe they will, and until we know, just let it go. I can handle it if they're just giving me nasty looks."

"But you shouldn't have to," Blaine said, not mentioning that he wasn't entirely sure if Sam was right about that, considering the way that he'd snapped in Spanish. It was probably better to keep that worry to himself for now. He didn't want Sam to think that Blaine was calling him weak. "And I think you're wrong. There is something else that we could try."

Sam shifted in his chair, looking like he was caught between wanting to hear Blaine's idea and telling him to just stop talking. "What?" he finally asked, curiosity apparently winning out over his desire to end this conversation.

"You remember what happened with Kurt two years ago?" Blaine asked, then didn't wait for an answer. Of course Sam did. "He had to transfer to Dalton because he was being bullied, but he could transfer back when he had the Bully Whips protecting him."

Sam gave him a look like he was trying to figure out what Blaine's point was. But a second later, it became obvious by the look on his face that he'd caught on, and he didn't like the idea at all. He snorted. "What? You think I should get some bodyguards to follow me around? Not going to happen, dude."

"That's not what I meant, exactly," Blaine said quickly. Even though he personally thought that bringing back the Bully Whips would be a good thing – and would help everyone at McKinley, not just them – he'd already known that Sam would find it too embarrassing. And anyway, Blaine couldn't think of anyone who could take over the Bully Whips. Santana and Karofsky had worked well because they were strong and the bullies respected – or at least feared – them. There wasn't really anyone at McKinley who fit that description, except Sue.

Blaine shook those thoughts away and said, "But there's safety in numbers, right? You know that they're less likely to attack when there's more people around." Part of him couldn't help thinking that that wasn't always true, and that the bullies hadn't cared much in the past about whether there was a crowd or not. People had even gotten slushied while Jacob Ben Israel was filming them before. But Bobby and his friends were different than the people who had done that, and with Sue after them, they'd have to be more careful. At the very least, they'd have to think twice about starting a physical fight if Sam had friends around who could back him up.

"We should tell the rest of the Glee club about this, start sticking together more in the hallways. Support each other," Blaine continued. "And it'd mean that there are more witnesses around, so Figgins would be more likely to believe us." Blaine was still majorly pissed that Figgins hadn't done anything about Sam being slushied last Friday, and he didn't have any faith that the man would ever try to help them, but Blaine was still hopeful enough to think that even Figgins would be forced to do something if there were two or three witnesses, even if all the witnesses did come from the same club.

"No way," Sam said immediately, not even giving Blaine room to argue. "I'm not bringing Glee into this."

Blaine frowned. "Why not?" he asked, expecting some explanation about how Sam was embarrassed about the rest of the club knowing, or something else that Blaine could argue against.

Instead, Sam shook his head, looking like he didn't quite know how to put it into words, but he was going to try anyway. He said, "Glee is my safe place. I don't want to do anything to mess that up."

Blaine hadn't expected that, and wasn't really sure how to respond. "Safe place?" he asked.

Sam nodded with more enthusiasm than Blaine had seem from him the rest of the talk. "Yeah. It's like, we're all friends there, and I don't have to worry about any of the bullies seeing me. Or anyone else at school, really, except the club. So it doesn't matter what I do, or if we start holding hands and making people realize that we like each other, because there's no one there but us, so it's cool. I don't want to even think about the rest of the school during Glee. I just want to pretend that it doesn't even exist so that we can focus on singing and dancing and just... being myself, I guess." Sam ducked his head slightly, then asked, "That makes sense, right?"

"Yeah, it does," Blaine said, though he couldn't resist adding, "You could still talk to the club, you know. It wouldn't change what happened during the rehearsals."

"Yeah," Sam said, but in a voice that made it obvious that he wasn't actually going to do it. "But now can we drop it? I told you, we'll figure something out if they don't back off, but I think Lipoff will make them. Or, Sue will make them. So let's quit worrying about it."

"Okay," Blaine agreed. He thought about making Sam promise to come talk to him if anything else did happen, but decided not to. He'd made it completely clear that he wanted Sam to do that, and they'd already promised to talk about anything. Blaine trusted that Sam actually would.

At least, Blaine hoped that he would.

"Good," Sam said, obvious relief in his voice. Then his tone turned teasing. "If you bugged me about it anymore, I was going to pour my dinner into your lap. If I ruin your pants then it won't matter that you don't have a bow tie to go with them anymore, right?"

Blaine narrowed his eyes and glared at Sam, though it was hard to keep a smile off of his face. After that, the two of them went back to joking around, and getting into yet another joking argument about the bow tie, which almost turned into a full-blown food fight a couple of times. And it probably would have, if Blaine hadn't held back. Macaroni and cheese would be a pain to wash out of his hair, not that Sam seemed concerned about that.

After the first few minutes, Blaine really did allow the bullying to slip his mind completely. It didn't mean that he wasn't still worried, or that he wasn't determined to keep as close an eye on Sam as he could tomorrow. But Sam had made sense when he talked about safe places. Mainly, that they needed somewhere to just be themselves, without worrying about what the other kids at school would say, or what they'd do tomorrow or the next day or the day after that. And Blaine couldn't think of anywhere that could be safer than where he was right here, right now, with Sam.

* * *

Sam had been at school for four hours now, and nobody had bothered him yet. Bobby and his friends were up to the same thing they'd done yesterday, glaring at Sam every time they passed him, but Sam told himself firmly that it wasn't a big deal. He could just ignore them and it would be fine. What was important was that nobody was doing anything more than that. He wondered if four hours was enough time to prove that they really had backed off. Probably not, but at least it was a start.

Sam sighed with relief as he left his history classroom. That was the one class that he shared with Bobby, which basically meant that Sam automatically hated it, even though they sat on opposite sides of the room and never did anything more than send each other dirty looks.

He was halfway to his locker when he felt something slippery under his foot. He stopped, then slowly looked down. There was blue slush spilled across the floor.

Maybe someone had honestly gotten themselves a slushy to drink, and had spilled it by accident. It could be entirely innocent. But Sam kind of doubted that. Someone had probably been slushied. And recently, too, since class had just gotten out a minute ago.

He turned around and started toward the girls' bathroom in the back of the school. Whoever had been slushied, it was only nice to go see if he could help them clean up. Sam just hoped that it wasn't Blaine, both because he of course didn't want Blaine to get attacked again – they'd both already been slushied more than enough times – and because he was still kind of hoping that he was right, and Lipoff had made the soccer team back off. Sam didn't know what he'd do if it wasn't true, and he still had a whole team of guys who were out for his blood.

Sam pushed open the bathroom door slowly, calling, "Hey, is anyone in here?" Even though there were usually no girls in here, he still tried to avoid going in there if he didn't have to. Being in the girls' room was just weird.

"Is that you, Sam?" a voice called from one of the stalls. Sam recognized Marley's voice immediately.

"Yeah," Sam said, stepping forward and letting the door close behind him. "I saw the slush on the ground and came to see if you needed help getting cleaned up."

"Thanks," she said quietly. "Just give me a minute, okay?"

Sam nodded – which was stupid, since she couldn't see him – and leaned back against the wall while he waited. A minute or so later, Marley walked out of the stall wearing a clean T shirt, carrying a blue-stained blouse at arms length. Though her clothes were clean, there was a slight blue tinge to her face where the dye stained to her skin, and the corn syrup made parts of her hair stuck together in clumps. She sighed and shook her head at him as she dropped the blouse onto the floor next to her bag. "It had been a couple months since I've gotten one of these. I was kind of hoping that they were done with."

"Who did it," Sam asked, already feeling like he knew the answer. "Someone on the soccer team, right?"

Marley blinked, looking vaguely surprised. "No, I don't think they were," she said, then tilted her head to think about it. "Actually, I'm pretty sure that at least one of them was in the marching band. I guess they wanted to prove that they're at least cooler than one other club."

Sam felt sick. With everything going on with the soccer team, he'd completely forgotten that the rest of the school still thought that they were at the bottom of the pyramid. There were more people who could make trouble, even if they weren't as violent as the soccer team, and didn't do anything but throw slushies. That was still bad enough.

He cleared his throat. "Need any help getting cleaned up?"

Marley smiled slightly. "Think you could help me rinse my hair out?"

Sam nodded and pulled out the travel bottles of shampoo and conditioner that he'd put into his bag after the last slushy. Blaine had had the right idea, carrying those around. It made getting cleaned up a lot easier.

It didn't take that long to wash out her hair. Afterward, she bent down to stick her head under the hand dryer to try to dry her hair out, and Sam went back to leaning against the wall and thinking this over. He didn't know why he bothered, though. It wasn't like his thoughts led to anything good.

The door suddenly opened. Sam turned, surprised – this bathroom hardly even got used – in time to see Jake and Sugar walk in. "What happened?" Jake asked, though from the look on his face, he understood a moment later. "Are you okay?" he asked, hurrying over to Marley.

She nodded and straightened, running one hand through her hair. It still looked slightly damp, but not too bad. "I'm fine. It's not really a big deal anymore."

Sugar scowled, poking at the ruined blouse on the floor with the toe of her shoe. "I don't know why people keep getting away with this."

"Because Figgins doesn't care," Sam said. It came out much more bitter than he'd wanted.

"Yeah," Marley said with a small sigh, then bent to pick up her bag and ruined shirt. "Come on. We should get to lunch."

The four of them walked to Marley's locker together. She kept turning the stained shirt in her hands, looking at it like she was trying to figure out if she could save it. But after a minute, she shook her head. "Nope," she said. "Absolutely ruined. There's no way that that blue is going to come out."

"It's okay," Sugar said, reaching over to squeeze Marley's shoulder. "It wasn't a very good-looking shirt anyway, so you're not loosing much." From the sound of her voice, Sugar obviously meant this to be comforting.

Marley frowned, and obviously didn't agree, but she said just nodded and said, "Thanks, Sugar."

Jake slipped his arm around her waist. "We can go shopping this weekend and see if we can find something to replace it," he offered. Marley turned and gave him a genuine smile, followed by a quick kiss on the cheek.

Jake looked like he was going to add something else, but then he stopped and frowned. "Do you guys hear that?"

Sam hadn't heard anything, but now that Jake had mentioned it, he could hear some weird noises coming from around the corner, and getting louder. It sounded like a lot of banging and crashing, which made Sam wince, because that couldn't mean anything good. "Wanna go see what's going on?" Sam asked, and the other three all nodded and followed after him.

He turned the corner. It wasn't the soccer team going on a rampage like Sam had half-thought that it would be. Instead, it was Sue. Which wasn't really any better, but at least it was more predictable.

She had been at the end of the hallway, ripping backpacks off the students and hitting them viciously against the wall. But when she turned and saw the glee club members standing there, she dropped the bags that she'd been holding and started toward them, stopping every few feet to shove a random student into the wall. Sam braced himself, expecting her to take her wrath out on them. She still hated the glee club, after all, even if she had been helpful with the bullying thing. Instead, she stopped in front of them and crossed her arms, giving them all a death look that almost made Sam flinch.

"Lips," she barked, turning to glare straight at Sam. She was silent for a moment, which made Sam worry about what kind of evil things she was thinking about. Then she said, "Figgins turned down my petition to ban slushies. Something about how it brings too much money to the school, and we can't afford to get rid of it." Her eyes flickered to the stained shirt in Marley's hands, then she added, "As much as I love to see the glee club kids covered in a physical manifestation of the hatred that this school has for them, I also can't abide the fact that Figgins is questioning my authority instead of simply giving in to my every demand." Another glance to Marley's shirt, then she nodded. "This will not stand."

Sam started to ask what she meant – to be honest, a couple of the words that she'd used had confused him a little, even if he got the gist of what she meant – but she turned away before he could. "WHAT ARE YOU ALL LOOKING AT?" she screamed to the students cowering along the walls, then shook her head as if disgusted by all of them and stormed off toward her office.

"I'm not entirely sure that I understand all of that," Marley said slowly, as the other students started to leave, and she, Sam, Jake, and Sugar started to continue towards her locker. "Was Sue actually saying that she's going to stick up for us?"

"I think so," Jake said, also sounding like he didn't quite know what to think.

Sugar snorted. "It's Sue. Who can understand anything she says?"

"What about Sue?"

Sam turned and saw Blaine walking over to join their group. Sam smiled slightly at him, then shook his head. "Dude, good thing your here. Sue's being even weirder than normal. Okay, listen to this and tell me if she's making any sense."

* * *

Sam tapped his pencil against his notebook, watching the clock intently. The bell was going to ring any second now, and then school would be over and glee could begin.

The glee club had talked it over at lunch, and decided that, no, Sue's sudden decision to get rid of slushies (if that was actually what she planned on doing) didn't make much sense. But then again, this was Sue. Nobody actually expected sense out of her. After that, the conversation shifted to glee club. Specifically, the fact that some of the alumni were arriving today to help with Regionals. The club was split on their opinion about that. Kitty in particular had bitched about how they didn't need anyone from the old club to come tell them what to do, but everyone who had been a part of the club last year was thrilled that they'd get to see Kurt, Santana, and Quinn again, and most of the other new members didn't seem to care one way or another.

Sam was more eager than ever for the club to start, but also nervous. As much as he wanted school to just be over so that he could race to the choir room and get away from the other kids staring and glaring at him, he also kind of wanted to keep putting it off forever. This was going to be the first time that Blaine and Kurt saw each other since the wedding. Where they'd had sex. Sam tried not to think about that too much, but it kept coming to his mind.

It wasn't like Sam expected Kurt to leave his new boyfriend, especially since they seemed so happy together. And it wasn't like he thought that Blaine was lying when he said that he'd chosen Sam. No, of course he wouldn't doubt Blaine like that. It was just, Kurt and Blaine had been in love for a long time. And Kurt was awesome. Awesome enough to maybe make Blaine change his mind.

No, Sam was not going to think about that right now. He had to trust Blaine. That was what boyfriends (and almost-boyfriends) did, right? Yeah.

Still, for some reason, Glee club didn't feel quite as safe as it had yesterday. But it was still better than being at school with all the rest of the students.

The intercom crackled to life, then he heard Figgin's voice say, "Attention, students. Before we dismiss for the day, there is an announcement that William Schuester asked me to make about the glee club."

Sam sat up slightly in his chair. This would be the fund raising idea that Mr. Schue had been taking about yesterday. He leaned forward, wondering what it could be.

Figgins cleared his throat, then said, "The New Directions are going to be performing at the Regional competition this Saturday afternoon, beginning at two o'clock. The school has decided to offer extra credit to any student that attends this competition. You must buy a ticket and pick up a program on Saturday, then give these to one of your teachers to prove that you actually came to the competition. That teacher will give you extra credit in that class. The money earned by the ticket sales will go towards paying for the New Directions Nationals trip, should they win the competition."

Figgins paused for a minute, and Sam could faintly hear papers shuffling, like Figgins was looking through his notes. Then he added, "I've also been informed that there are several students on various sports teams who are on the verge of failing their classes and becoming ineligible to compete. For this reason, several of the coaches have decided to make attending the Regionals competition mandatory for their entire team. The swim teams, the girls' tennis team, and the boys' soccer team are all required to come to the competition and earn the extra credit."

The bell rang then, cutting off whatever else Figgins had to say. The rest of his class jumped to their feet and hurried out of the room – except for Tina, who came over to wait for him, which was nice. It took Sam a minute longer than everyone else to snap himself together and start gathering his stuff so that he could leave.

"You okay?" Tina asked as they walked out of the room. "You don't look so good."

Sam swallowed. "Yeah," he said, easily enough that he seemed to believe it. "Yeah, I'm totally fine. Just kind of tired, I guess."

Tina nodded like she accepted that, then gave him a wave and started toward her own locker, which was in a different hallway than Sam's. Sam hardly saw her go. He was too bust focusing on one thing.

The entire soccer team had to come attend Regionals for extra credit.

That meant that Bobby and his friends were coming to see the competition.

The people who bullied him were coming to the only place where he really felt comfortable.

Sam could feel his safe place officially shattering.


	33. Chapter 33

**It should go without saying at this point, but thanks to my beta, Tuuzmorado.**

* * *

"So, is this going to be the most unbearably awkward day of your life or what?"

Blaine frowned and turned his head, his eyebrows knitting together as he regarded Kitty, who was leaning against the locker next to his. "What do you mean?"

Kitty smirked. "I saw your ex when I passed the choir room. He was snuggling up to another guy who's taller and doesn't keep his hair in a plaster cage. Not to mention that he sounded British. Trust me, no guy can compete with a British accent. And this is the first time that you're going to see him since you decided to start dating someone who's still in the closet, which your ex might know about, since you two were so obvious about it on Fondue for Two. I'm expecting the tension to just explode."

Blaine didn't bother to explain that he and Sam weren't technically dating, since he doubted that Kitty would want to hear it, or care. "Kurt already knows about Sam and I," he said instead, instinctively lowering his voice even though there was no one else around. He raised his voice back to a normal level and continued, "We talked about it a couple weeks ago. And I'm fine with Adam being here. I mean, he's a nice guy, and I want Kurt to be happy." He shook his head, turning back to finish pulling his books out of his locker. "You know, I was sort of under the impression that the fact that we're friends meant that you weren't going to insult me so much."

"Well, that was a stupid thing to think," Kitty said, casually examining her nails like they were the most interesting things in the world. But when Blaine shot her a look, she met his eyes and said, "Besides, I'm being nice enough, aren't I? If one of my exes – or my boyfriend – showed up with a hot girl, I'd want you to tell me about it. I'm just doing the same."

Blaine's lips twitched. "Right. So all of this was an elaborate way to tell me that if Ryder ever talks to another girl, I have to let you know about it?"

Kitty snorted. "Please, like that boy would ever cheat on me. I've got him wrapped around my little finger, and he knows it," she said, and Blaine snorted. Yeah, based on the way that Ryder had been staring at Kitty the past few days, he couldn't picture that happening, either. Then she added is a lower voice, "But you know, if you ever do see anything, I'm counting on you to come rat him out."

Blaine reached over to squeeze her shoulder. Despite everything she said, he got the feeling that she wasn't as invincible as she liked to act. Not that she would have wanted him to notice that. "I doubt that's going to happen, but it's a deal," he said, keeping his voice casual, since she'd probably slap him if he tried to be any more comforting than that. "You've got nothing to worry about. Just like I don't have to worry about Kurt showing up with Adam, because it doesn't matter."

Kitty smiled at him for a split second before shoving his hand off her shoulder and rolling her eyes. "Well, obviously I don't have to worry," she said, scorn dripping from her tone, and Blaine had to hide a chuckle as he shut his locker door and started following her down the hallway. "The question is, does Sam?"

Okay, that definitely confused Blaine, even more than her initial comment had. "Why would Sam have to worry?"

Kitty actually laughed. "Um, hello? Hot ex-boyfriend back in town. Sam _has_ to get jealous about that. I mean, I'd be pissed if Puck came back to help with glee and Ryder didn't get at least a little bit upset. It comes with the territory." She turned to look at him as they kept walking, her expression turning more serious. "Thing is, I dated Puck because I liked the sex, so I put up with his awful personality. You, on the other hand, went around blathering about how Kurt was the love of your life. See the difference?"

Blaine's frown deepened. "Uh, yeah, but Sam knows that I chose him over Kurt. I already told him that."

"Whatever," Kitty said dismissively. "All I'm saying is that it wouldn't be a bad thing to mark your territory."

"I'll keep that in mind," Blaine said as they turned a corner. "So, do you know why we're supposed to meet in the choir room? I thought we were rehearsing all day today, so shouldn't we be in the auditorium?"

"We'll probably go there later," Kitty said. "I asked Mr. Schue if we could all meet here today. There's a song that Jake and Ryder are helping me with."

Blaine started to ask what song she had planned, but they entered the choir room before he got the chance. Then he realized that Kurt and Adam were already here, sitting in between Quinn and Santana, and talking with Unique. Suddenly Blaine wasn't as concerned with Kitty's song choice anymore.

Kurt glanced up then, meeting Blaine's eyes from across the room, and Blaine froze for a moment, not entirely sure what he should do now. Okay, maybe he'd been wrong about this not being awkward, though not for the reasons that Kitty had suggested. Blaine was happy to see Kurt – of course he was. Even though they were never going to start dating again, Blaine didn't think that that would ever change. But at the same time, they'd never been in the same room as just friends. Sure, they'd been on Brittany's show, and talked on the phone. But that was completely different than actually seeing him in person. It felt... well, strange was the best word, but that didn't even begin to cover it.

Blaine cleared his throat and kept walking forward, telling himself that there was no reason to feel strange about this. They'd decided to be friends. That meant being in the same room as each other. This was normal. He smiled. "Hey, Kurt."

Kurt returned the smile, though Blaine immediately how stiff he was, and the way that his hands were clenched around each other. That was probably because he was worried about his dad, but Blaine couldn't help but wonder if at least part of it was from Kurt being nervous about them seeing each other again. "Hey, Blaine," he said, rising from his seat and walking toward him, Adam following a step behind.

Both Blaine and Kurt stopped when they were about a foot away from each other, eying each other hesitantly. Blaine wasn't entirely sure what the proper protocol for this was. Should they hug? Blaine wouldn't have hesitated to hug any of his other friends, but he knew that Kurt was different. Would Kurt even want to come close to him? And Adam was right there. Wouldn't that be too uncomfortable? But a handshake seemed too stiff and formal. Blaine's mind spun around, trying to figure out what he was supposed to do, and drawing a complete blank.

It was Kurt who finally made the decision when he leaned forward and gave him a quick hug, his hands on Blaine's shoulders and their bodies barely touching before he moved back and leaned against Adam's side. "It's nice to see you again," Kurt said, and Blaine relaxed. That hadn't been as uncomfortable as he'd worried that it would be.

"Nice to see you, too," Blaine said with a smile that felt more genuine this time. "You too, Adam. Nice to meet you in real life."

"Oh, yes, it's wonderful to meet you, too," Adam said, with so much warmth in his voice that Blaine started to wonder if Adam even realized how tense and unusual this situation was. Then he noticed the way that Adam wrapped his arm around Kurt's waste, tucking him firmly against his side, and the way that he met Blaine's gaze straight on without looking away. He knew.

"So, how are you doing?" Blaine asked, turning back to Kurt and focusing on the way that Kurt's hands were fidgeting with the bottom of his shirt. Kurt was always careful to keep from doing that. There was no way Kurt was aware of what his hands were doing. If he'd realized, then he would have stopped, out of fear that the shirt would wrinkle.

Kurt took a deep breath, then smiled. "I'm doing great," he said. "And Dad's doing well. I was worried that he was just lying to me over the phone so that I wouldn't worry, but I got to see him in real life, and yeah, he's great, so..."

Blaine nodded, not exactly reassured. Even if Kurt was smiling, it was the same kind of smile that he'd been given Blaine since the breakup, the kind that didn't touch any other part of his face. It was like his emotions were locked off, and he wasn't about to show anyone what they were. And Adam must have noticed it, too, because he tightened his hold on Kurt and pressed a kiss to the side of his forehead.

"So, how are you and Sam?" Kurt asked, the most obvious change of subject that Blaine had ever seen. "Are you two...?"

He didn't finish the sentence, but after a moment, Blaine caught on to what Kurt was trying to ask. He wanted to know if they were dating or not. "Oh, yeah. We're working on that."

Kurt looked like he was about to ask for more, but before he could, Brittany entered the choir room. "Santana!" she shouted, running forward and flinging herself into Santana's lap. Santana smiled and hugged her back.

"Uh oh. Incoming drama alert," Kurt said, raising his eyebrows as he watched the two of them.

"What do you mean?" Blaine asked with a frown.

"I mean, look at Quinn and tell me what you see," Kurt said.

Blaine was more confused than ever, but he did what Kurt said. Quinn was sitting in three chairs away from Santana, her body pointedly turned away from her, her arms crossed and her foot tapping against the floor. Even though she was turned away from Santana and Brittany, she kept looking at them, and the expression on her face said that she was not happy.

"So, Quinn is upset about something?" Blaine asked. "What, did she have a fight with Santana? Or Brittany?"

"I guess you could say that," Kurt said dryly. "Although, calling this a fight might be understating it a bit."

"Why? What happened?" Blaine asked.

Kurt considered him for a minute. "I don't think I'm actually supposed to tell anyone about this. Besides, you do _not_ want to get involved, trust me. Best to just stay on the sidelines and wait for the dust to settle. Then once they're done, we can go see how many people got bitchslapped to death during the battle."

"Come on, it can't be that bad," Blaine said. Brittany was now standing by Quinn's chair, talking excitedly at her. Santana stood behind Brittany, running her fingers up and down Brittany's arm, while Quinn glared up at the two of them, looking like she was a few seconds away from snapping. Okay, Quinn was obviously seriously mad about something. Maybe Kurt wasn't exaggerating.

"Oh, it is," Kurt said. "You have absolutely no idea what I have had to deal with the past few weeks, ever since that stupid Fondue For Two. Absolutely. No. Idea."

Blaine found himself smiling. Even though the fight between Santana and Quinn couldn't be a good thing, it did help him and Kurt move past the first few awkward moments. Now that they had someone to talk about, Blaine was relieved by how easy this was. But even better than that was the fact that he could see Kurt and Adam interact and feel completely fine with it. He saw the way that Kurt was gravitating toward Adam, and the little smiles that they shared – the same kind that Blaine and Kurt used to give each other – and he just felt happy that his best friend had found someone.

He'd already known that he wanted to be with Sam, and that he was over Kurt, but still. It was always nice to be sure.

"What does Fondue For Two have to do with the fight?" Blaine asked, turning his mind back to Santana and Quinn.

Kurt shook his head. "That's part of the things that I'm not supposed to share." Blaine nodded and started to say that he understood, but before he could, Kurt leaned closer. "Which is why you have to promise not to tell anyone."

"I promise," Blaine said.

"Okay," Kurt said. "So do you remember how I mentioned once that Santana had hooked up with someone at the wedding, and that you didn't want to know the details of that?" He waited for Blaine to nod, then added, "And do you remember how on Fondue For Two, Santana mentioned that she was hooking up with some girl? Specifically, that she was hooking up with a blonde girl?"

"Yeah..." Blaine said slowly.

"And now Quinn is mad at her for something?" Kurt continued.

Blaine frowned, still not seeing it. "And?"

"I believe that what Kurt is trying to say is that Quinn was the hook up that Santana was referring to, and that she's upset about Santana mentioning that on the internet," Adam interrupted. "And are you sure that you should be sharing your friends' secrets like this, Kurt?"

Kurt shook his head. "I wouldn't have said anything if I was talking to anyone but Blaine," he said, then met Blaine's eyes and let a genuine smile appear on his face for a moment. "It's okay. I trust him."

"Hey, you three are already here," Sam said, and Blaine turned, his smile widening as he saw Sam walk into the room. Sam looked over and saw Blaine, then changed direction. He gave Kurt a long look, then wrapped his arm around Blaine and pulled him against his side, the same way that Adam was holding Kurt. "How are you doing?"

"I'm good," Kurt said. Neither of them said something for a moment, then Kurt added, "Okay, I get the feeling that it's just going to get more and more awkward and uncomfortable the longer we stand here, so let's go sit down, shall we?"

"Uh, yeah, sounds good," Blaine said. Kurt and Adam took their seats in between Santana and Quinn, who still looked seconds away from bursting into a full-out cat fight, and Blaine let Sam pull him up to sit in the back row.

Mr. Schue came in then, and started talking about how happy he was to have the glee alumni returning, and explaining about the original songs that the club was going to perform. Blaine only half listened. Most of his mind was on the things that Kitty said earlier.

"Hey, Sam?" Blaine whispered, leaning toward him and lowering his voice so that nobody else could hear them, hoping that Mr. Schue wouldn't see them and make them stop. "Are you... jealous?"

Sam froze. "What?" he whispered back.

Blaine shook his head. "It's stupid. It's just... this is the first time that Kurt and I have seen each other since the two of us sort of got together, and I was just wondering..."

Sam was silent for a minute, then whispered, "No, of course not. You said that you and Kurt are over. It's not like I think that you'd lie to me about that. You're not that kind of guy."

Blaine frowned, hearing something in Sam's voice that he wasn't saying. "But?"

Sam bit his lip. "But it is kind of weird seeing you two together."

Blaine had missed Mr. Schue's announcement, but now Kitty got up and started singing "Signed, Sealed, Delivered" with Jake and Ryder as backup dancers. Blaine turned toward the front, making sure to pay attention to her, even though he was still caught up thinking about Sam. And, specifically, the things that Kitty had said about marking his territory.

He didn't look away from the performance, but he did reach over and drape his arm over Sam's shoulders. And he could have been wrong, but he swore he felt Sam relax, just slightly, though he was still way too tense.

Kitty finished the performance, which had been filled with a ton of tricks and sexual dance moves, which was basically what Blaine had come to expect from Kitty by this point. What was more surprising was the fact that she sang it to Artie, but that made sense when the music ended and Kitty grinned. "Seemed like the perfect Stevie song to celebrate Artie getting his acceptance letter into film school. Signed, sealed, delivered."

Blaine grinned. He didn't want to take his arm away from Sam's shoulder, so he just shouted and cheered while everyone else clapped. Artie smiled awkwardly and looked uncomfortable with all the attention.

"Thank you, Kitty, that was wonderful. And congratulations to Artie," Mr. Schue said, inspiring another round of clapping. Once that had died down, he said, "Now, how about we head down to the auditorium so we can start rehearsing for Regionals!"

As everyone got to their feet, Blaine used the noise as a cover to lean toward Sam's ear and add, "If it wasn't for the fact that we were waiting, I'd lean over and kiss you right now to prove to everyone how completely over Kurt I am. You know that, right?"

"Of course, dude," Sam said, reaching up to squeeze Blaine's wrist. But something still seemed off about his voice.  
"Is there something else wrong?" Blaine asked.

For a second, it looked like Sam was going to deny it. Then he shook his head. "There's no time to talk right now. Come on, let's head down to the auditorium."

Blaine frowned, but nodded as he and Sam joined the group and left the choir room.

"Hey," Kitty said, coming over to join them. She eyes Blaine's arm, still wrapped around Sam. "Looks like someone decided to follow my advice."

"Oh, yeah," Blaine said absently, then dragged himself out of his thoughts and added, "You were amazing, by the way."

Kitty grinned. "I try."

They kept up a conversation the whole way to the auditorium, and in that time, Blaine noticed something odd. Specifically, that Sam didn't say a thing the whole way there. Instead, he just stared directly in front of him, frowning like he was lost in some pretty serious thoughts of his own.

The talk last night hadn't solved anything permanently. If Blaine hadn't known that already, then this was his proof. Clearly there was still something wrong, something else that they'd have to talk about. But not when there were so many people around. Whatever it was, it would have to wait.


End file.
